That is like saying, "a salary-earning division manager." I don't know of any serious academic scientist who isn't funded by grants. Seems like the writer really wanted to put "award-winning," but there were no awards.
There are academic scientists who don't get grants. They are denied tenure outright. Since she was denied tenure, it's worthwhile to note that she did have grants. If she had no grants and expected to get tenure, then that would tell us something. This also tells us she met some requirements for tenure. (But not much, because we don't know how much money these grants were, and how much her department expects.)
That is like saying, "a salary-earning division manager." I don't know of any serious academic scientist who isn't funded by grants. Seems like the writer really wanted to put "award-winning," but there were no awards.