In Their Own Words: The Stories of Xiaoxing Xi, Anming Hu, and Gang Chen

Concerns over research espionage by China are leading to hundreds of investigations into US researchers, nearly all of them of Chinese national origin. This webinar features three researchers, Xiaoxing Xi, Anming Hu, and Gang Chen, who were arrested by the US Department of Justice.

• Professor Xiaoxing Xi was arrested in May 2015, and his case was closed in September 2015.
• Professor Anming Hu was arrested in February 2020 and was acquitted of all charges in September 2021; he was reinstated in his faculty position at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in February 2022.
• Professor Gang Chen was arrested in January 2021, and charges were dropped in January 2022.

APS has taken a strong stance on investigations of researchers; APS wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland in support of Gang Chen and recently filed an amicus brief on behalf of Xiaoxing Xi. Additionally, APS has taken steps to make the United States more welcoming for scientists.

Despite the happy outcomes of the cases against Xiaoxing Xi, Anming Hu, and Gang Chen, and positive actions such as the shuttering of the China Initiative and recent White House guidance to aid researchers on key areas of research security, the damage wreaked by these cases is lasting, both for them and for many other scientists who watched their cases unfold and whose faith in the US justice system and in the promise of the US has been shaken.

After attending, you will take away a better understanding of

1. the cases of three innocent Chinese scientists targeted by US research security investigations,
2. the human and scientific cost of a misguided response to research security,
3. how to support international students and scientists, and
4. what APS has been doing to balance the imperatives of research security and open science.

We encourage attendees to discuss how the current situation is affecting them and to provide suggestions for how to support international students and scientists.

The webinar will be recorded, so please register even if you cannot attend live and you will receive a link to the recording.

Hosts

• Dr. Frances Hellman (UC Berkeley; APS, President)
• Dr. Jonathan Bagger (APS, CEO)

Moderators

• Dr. S. James Gates (Brown University; APS, Past President)
• Dr. Andrea Liu (University of Pennsylvania; Former Speaker of APS Council)

Speakers/Panelists

• Speaker 1: (12 min): Xiaoxing Xi (Temple University)
• Speaker 2: (12 min): Anming Hu (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
• Speaker 3: (12 min): Gang Chen (MIT)
• Speaker 4: (6 min): Philip Bucksbaum (Stanford University, former APS President)
• Speaker 5: (6 min): Francis Slakey (APS Chief of External Affairs)