The University of Arkansas has suspended an electrical engineering professor following his arrest for allegedly failing to disclose ties to the Chinese government and Chinese businesses, the Associated Press reports.
It adds that the professor, Simon Ang, was arrested Friday and charged with wire fraud. According to the AP, Ang allegedly did not disclose his ties to Chinese government and Chinese businesses on an application for a grant from NASA. The University of Arkansas subsequently suspended Ang without pay, it notes.
The US has become concerned about foreign influence on US research and been investigating researchers regarding their relationships with foreign governments, particularly with China. In connection with such investigations, researchers from Emory University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and the Moffitt Cancer Center have resigned or been dismissed. Additionally, Harvard University's Charles Lieber was charged with making false claims regarding the funds he received from China's Thousand Talents Program. But as many of the researchers targeted by these investigations are Asian or Asian American, concerns about racism have also been raised.