Investigation clears UTEP professor in NSF aerospace grant, but El Paso loses major funding opportunity
by Daniel Perez
February 6, 2026
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A nearly two-year investigation found no wrongdoing in a grant application that led to a potential $160 million award for a UTEP-led collaboration to expand aerospace manufacturing in the El Paso region.
The finding by the National Science Foundation Office of the Inspector General comes too late to save the grant, which was suspended when the investigation began in April 2024, and killed last year after the money was reallocated for other programs.
“We did not substantiate the allegations,” said a Feb. 4 letter from NSF OIG Special Agent Martha Cusack to Ahsan Choudhuri, the now-retired professor who was the principal investigator and driving force behind the grant.
Choudhuri said the vindication did not surprise him because he knew he had done nothing wrong.
“I’m very, very happy,” he said when contacted about the results of the NSF review.
While happy with the news, Choudhuri said he mourned the loss of the NSF grant and the deterioration of the associated projects that were part of a transformational economic development plan for the region, and the loss of “his baby,” the University of Texas at El Paso’s Aerospace Center, which he founded.
He blamed UTEP President Heather Wilson for this situation, calling her “a nasty, corrupt politician.”
Wilson is a former congresswoman from New Mexico and was secretary of the Air Force during the first Donald Trump administration. She also is a member of the National Science Board, which oversees the NSF.
“In my mind this was disruption by corruption,” Choudhuri said during a phone interview with El Paso Matters. He later added, “I demand an apology because the allegations were false and were designed to destroy everything I had built.”
He said he has moved on and is ready to do bigger and better things for El Paso. He incorporated a company, ARC Aerospace in June 2024, and already is working on government contracts alongside many of his former students who worked at the Aerospace Center.
Choudhuri said he celebrated the NSF news with his employees.
“I’m committed to my community,” Choudhuri said.
UTEP officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the NSF decision.
An NSF spokesman did not respond to questions about the investigation process and the availability of documents tied to the review. He said the agency declined comment for this story.
The National Science Foundation awarded an El Paso coalition led by UTEP one of 10 Regional Innovation Engine grants in January 2024. The grant could have earned the region as much as $160 million through 2034 if the partners achieved certain metrics.
The grant was celebrated by El Paso leaders who called it a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape El Paso’s economy. The grant called for building out an aerospace sector that would help small businesses grow and provide jobs for young El Pasoans who now leave the community in search of better economic opportunity.
UTEP began auditing Choudhuri’s grant application in March 2024, and stated that the application misstated resources UTEP could make available for the grant. Choudhuri has repeatedly denied that.
The NSF never said what claims it was investigating, but UTEP’s internal audit came at the same time the NSF suspended the grant.
Wilson stripped Choudhuri of his associate vice president title in May 2024, though he remained a member of the mechanical engineering faculty until retiring in December 2025. The same day Choudhuri was demoted, the university sent a letter to the NSF outlining the findings of its internal review of the grant proposal.
In Wilson’s May 6, 2024, demotion letter to Choudhuri, she stated the university became aware of “questionable commitments” included in the proposal that had been submitted Jan. 18, 2023.
The letter questioned the availability of “currently available resources,” including a number of hangars at the Fabens (Texas) Airport and the use of 8,000 acres of test facilities for unmanned aerial vehicles.
Wilson wrote that those commitments were inaccurate and that neither of those statements were corrected – claims Choudhuri has denied and which the NSF inspector general apparently did not substantiate.
“As a result of this conduct, the University has lost confidence in your suitability to lead,” Wilson wrote in her letter to Choudhuri.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
