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RI’s Great Pumpkin Grower is Harvard professor under FBI investigation for academic espionage
Known to many in Rhode Island as the winner and finalist from years of Great Pumpkin growing at the Frerichs Farm event, today the FBI charged Harvard Chemistry Chair with failing to disclose funding – $50,000/mo – from the Chinese government. This could lead to a charge of academic espionage, a process by which researchers give academic information to foreign governments.
This is taken from a story in The Harvard Crimson, 1/28/20:
Chemistry department chair Charles M. Lieber has been placed on “indefinite” paid administrative leave after being charged in federal court with failing to disclose funding from the Chinese government, according to University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain.
Lieber was charged Monday with “making materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements to an agency of the U.S. government,” according to the affidavit in the case. The charges come as both the United States government and Harvard embark upon a campaign to curb “academic espionage,” a process by which researchers funnel academic information to foreign governments.
He reportedly lied to the Defense Department and the National Institutes of Health about ties he allegedly had to China’s Thousand Talents Plan, per the Wall Street Journal. The Thousand Talents Plan was established in 2008 by the Chinese government to attract international scientific scholars. The U.S. government, however, has designated the program a danger to national security.
“The charges brought by the U.S. government against Professor Lieber are extremely serious,” Swain wrote in an emailed statement. “Harvard is cooperating with federal authorities, including the National Institutes of Health, and is conducting its own review of the alleged misconduct. Professor Lieber has been placed on indefinite administrative leave.”
Lieber will not be allowed on Harvard’s campus and will not continue his teaching and research roles, according to Swain.
Lieber did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Lieber, who studies nanotechnology, has had an illustrious academic career at Harvard. He serves as a University Professor, among Harvard’s highest academic honors, and has won numerous prizes for his research.
—This is a developing story. Check thecrimson.com for updates.
WGBH Story, here:
