Temple University professor charged with offering sensitive data to China
Head of Temple's physics department stripped of post in latest battle to stop sensitive leaks
The chairman of Temple University's physics department lost his leadership post on Friday, one day after federal authorities accused him of illegally sharing sensitive US technology with entities in China.
Xiaoxing Xi, a naturalised US citizen, however, would remain on the faculty, officials said.
The case against Xi, who was charged with four counts of wire fraud, left colleagues wondering how the professor they knew as a leader in the field of superconductor research had ended up as the latest target in the government's efforts to stanch the theft of trade secrets by China and Chinese businesses.
"It's shocking to me to see what happened," said Temple Provost Hai-Lung Dai, a chemical physicist from Taiwan. "He's a person of very high integrity. This is the reason we appointed him to department chair."
Boise State University physics Professor Dmitri Tenne also defended his old boss. He worked under Xi at Pennsylvania State University between 2000 and 2006 and said the professor treated him well. But it was during that same period, federal prosecutors say, that Xi was attempting to leverage his access to US trade secrets into lucrative and prestigious postings in China.
Before coming to Temple in Philadelphia in 2009, Xi minted his reputation as a leader in research surrounding the growth of superconductive magnesium diboride thin films while on the faculty at Pennsylvania State University. Such research has allowed engineers to eliminate resistance in the conduction of electricity, which has applications ranging from building smaller circuits for smart phones to improving computer speed.
According to the indictment, Xi took a sabbatical from his post at Pennsylvania State University in 2002 to continue his work at a US company that invented a device that revolutionised his field.
Prosecutors declined to name the firm or describe the device in question. However, records show Xi worked for Conductus, a California firm, specialising in manufacturing electronic equipment and systems for telecommunications companies.
It was after his return to Penn State in 2003, that Xi allegedly sought a US Defence Department grant to purchase the device from the company.
The company resisted Xi's efforts, the indictment says, but eventually agreed to the sale for one year only when Xi signed a contract promising only to use the device for testing and agreed not to reproduce it, sell it, transfer it or try to reverse engineer it.
Prosecutors say Xi repeatedly violated that agreement.
Citing several 2010 emails Xi sent to contacts in China - in which he offered to build a world-class thin film laboratory there - they say he offered to exploit the technology for the benefit of Chinese entities, including the government, and used his postdoctoral students from China to share the information abroad.
Xi was released on a US$100,000 bond after his arrest on Thursday.
National security experts said that the kinds of crimes of which Xi stands accused are similar to those in dozens of prosecutions brought by federal authorities in recent years. They have become the latest front, experts say, in an ongoing contest for an innovation edge between the United States and China.
