A physics professor at the California Institute of Technology is suing the school, claiming she faced retaliation for telling the FBI that she suspected illegal activities at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Sandra Troian claims Caltech officials killed her research funding and falsely found her guilty of misconduct after she reported possible violations of federal export laws at JPL, which is managed by Caltech.

Attorney Dan Stormer says the suit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The suit says Troian voiced concerns to Caltech in 2010 that a fellow researcher passed restricted data on a space propulsion project to an acquaintance in Israel and put it on a public website.

She claims the school refused to investigate but retaliated when she later voiced the concerns to the FBI.

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