US professor accused of hiding ties to China university stands trial
- Hu Anming pleads not guilty to defrauding Nasa by failing to disclose links in grant applications
- Charges are part of a Justice Department crackdown against researchers who conceal ties to Chinese institutions
Hu Anming was an associate professor in the University of Tennessee’s department of mechanical, aerospace and biomedical engineering in February 2020 when he was charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements.
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After the indictment was announced, the university said Hu had been suspended and that school officials had cooperated with authorities.
Hu has pleaded not guilty. In a court filing, his lawyer, Philip Lomonaco, said the Department of Justice “wanted a feather in its cap with an economic espionage case, so they ignored the facts and the law, destroyed the career of a professor with three PhDs in nanotechnology, and now expects the court to follow their narrative”.
The charges are part of a broader Justice Department crackdown against university researchers who conceal their ties to Chinese institutions, with a Harvard chemistry professor arrested in the past on similar charges. Federal officials have also asserted that Beijing is intent on stealing intellectual property from colleges and universities in the US, and have actively been warning schools to be on alert against espionage attempts.
Prosecutors say Hu defrauded Nasa by failing to disclose that he was also a professor at the Beijing University of Technology in China. Under federal law, Nasa cannot fund or give grant money to Chinese-owned companies or universities.
According to the indictment, as the University of Tennessee was preparing a proposal on Hu’s behalf for a Nasa-funded project, Hu provided false assurances to the school that he was not part of any business collaboration involving China.
In addition, prosecutors say, a curriculum vitae that Hu submitted when he applied for a tenured faculty position with the university omitted any affiliation with the Beijing university.
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According to the indictment, Hu sent emails stating he was a professor at the Beijing school and taught special seminars for graduate students in laser engineering. Hu knowingly caused the Tennessee university to falsely certify to Nasa and the agency’s contractors that the university was complying with the funding restriction, it said.
“Nasa would not have awarded Nasa-funded projects to Hu,” the indictment said.
According to the indictment, Nasa wired the University of Tennessee nearly US$60,000 in 2016 and 2017 for a project involving the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology. Nasa would pay another US$50,000 in 2019 for a project involving the Marshall Space Flight Centre, the indictment said.
The trial in Knoxville federal court is expected to continue on Tuesday.
