Via the Harvard Crimson, this unusual news:
A federal judge gave former Harvard Chemistry professor Charles M. Lieber permission to visit China for “employment networking” and give a lecture in Beijing — nearly three years after Lieber was convicted for lying to federal investigators about his relationship to China.
Lieber is currently serving a 18-month term of supervised release after completing six months of house arrest.
Lieber has been actively searching for employment in China since at least June, when he asked a judge if he could visit the University of Hong Kong the next month “to discuss potential faculty appointment and employment opportunities.”
In July, Lieber requested to attend the International Beijing Brain Conference in August to deliver a keynote speech and “discuss research and potential collaborations with local students.”
All three of Lieber’s requests were approved by U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper. The most recent request, which Casper signed off on last week, did not specify Lieber’s planned dates of travel.
In the requests, Lieber’s attorneys wrote that they had sought approval for Lieber’s travel from the Chinese consulate but had not heard back.
The Crimson could not determine whether Lieber has visited China yet, and neither Lieber nor his attorneys responded to requests for comment. In August, he told the South China Morning Post via email that he had “not yet visited Hong Kong, but may do so this fall.”
In some sense, this is reasonable, i.e. China pays significant money to be associated with prominent academics, and Charles Lieber is certainly very prominent. Also, I presume that he needs employment. However, it was his past associations with Chinese academia that got him into trouble, and in that sense, this move is rather surprising. I guess we'll see where Dr. Lieber ends up.
He's probably too controversial to get another job at an American university now, so this makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI think Dr. Lieber would still be able to get a job in the US, given his extensive network, but likely not at the caliber of university that he prefers. I can also understand if he wants to seek employment in Chinese academia, which will have a TON of resource for a scientist with his level of scientific background. It is an interesting story to follow where Dr. Leiber ends up eventually.
ReplyDeleteSo no company is willing to snatch up a superstar scientist? That's a rather sad statement on the state of American industrial R&D. I guess academia is the only game in town for certain types of science.
ReplyDeleteThat feels a bit presumptive, as we don't know if Lieber is interested in or has pursued industrial work. He may well only want to work in academics. Industry may also be more turned off by his illegal activity than the skillset/focus of his research.
DeleteHe is also like 65. Even given his scientific stature, probably not worth the investment.
ReplyDelete