Acting Inspector General
Megan E. Wallace began serving as the acting inspector general (IG) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in March 2025. As the acting IG, Ms. Wallace makes recommendations to promote the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of NSF programs and operations, and leads efforts to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse. Ms. Wallace reports directly to the National Science Board and Congress.
Ms. Wallace has more than 30 years of experience as a federal law enforcement agent, including over 19 years in the inspector general community. She began her federal career in 1994 as a special agent with the U.S. Customs Service, where she worked on complex financial crimes, narcotic smuggling, and commercial fraud investigations. She also served on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force after 9/11, investigating terrorism financing. In 2006, Ms. Wallace joined the Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General (OIG), where she conducted senior official, political appointee, and law enforcement misconduct investigations and co-managed the Deepwater Horizon criminal investigation. From 2012 to 2014, Ms. Wallace served as the chief of staff for the assistant IG of investigations at the Department of Homeland Security OIG. She joined NSF OIG in 2014 as the special agent in charge and was promoted to assistant IG for investigations in 2018.
Ms. Wallace serves as the co-chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency’s (CIGIE) Assistant Inspector Generals for Investigations Committee. She also founded several IG community working groups dedicated to preventing fraud within SBIR/STTR grant programs, which provide funding to small businesses for research and development with the goal of commercialization; increasing the use of government-wide suspension and debarment; fostering the next generation of senior investigative leaders within the IG community; addressing threats to research security; and investigating sexual assaults occurring in federal environments.
Ms. Wallace received a bachelor’s degree in education and Spanish from the University of San Diego and a master’s degree in policy management from Georgetown University. Ms. Wallace is also a certified fraud examiner.