KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee is in talks to reinstate a former professor and researcher who was cleared of charges he ran a scheme to hide his ties to a Chinese university while doing contract work for NASA, documents show.
In an October 4 letter, UT Provost John Zomchick offered to restore Professor Anming Hu to his tenured position, pay him seven months of back pay, reimburse his immigration attorney fees and give him $200,000 in research funding.
Hu responded on October 18: "I would deeply appreciate your offer to reinstate me and help me with my immigration application." He also requested the university return the research facilities in his original labs.
Hu was an associate professor in UT's Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering. The Chinese Canadian is also a respected researcher whose areas of interest include nanomanufacturing.
In September, U.S. District Judge Thomas A. Varlan granted Hu's motion to acquit and tossed three counts of wire fraud and three counts of causing false statements to be made as originally sought by the Trump administration in a 2020 indictment.
The government alleged he violated federal law by hiding a relationship with a Chinese university while securing contracts with NASA. Federal law prohibits NASA from using appropriated funds on projects in collaboration with China or Chinese universities, the government said.
Varlan said his review of the facts showed the government had not met its burden of proof. In June, an East Tennessee jury said they could not make up their minds whether Hu was guilty. Federal prosecutors indicated they planned to re-try Hu until Varlan dismissed the case.
University's offer
In a five-page letter obtained by 10News through a pubic records request, Provost Zomchick details the university's offer to reinstate Hu upon confirmation he is legally authorized to work in the United States and his disclosure of any outside interests.
Under the proposal, UT would pay Hu the salary he would have earned from March 6, 2020, when he was suspended without pay, to October 8, 2020, when he was terminated from the faculty after losing the authorization to work in the country as criminal proceedings continued.
Zomchick wrote that he approved payment of $5,000 to an immigration attorney to aid Hu's pursuit of a visa and petition for permanent residency.
UT will also pay $200,000 to Hu "in support of your efforts to redevelop your research program."
The university's offer to Hu was first reported by Knox News.
In his response, Hu asked the University to write to Tennessee's congressmen in an effort to expedite his visa application.
Outcry over case
Several organizations, researchers, and academics submitted letters this summer to Varlan in support of Hu.
In a Sept. 13 memo to Provost Zomchick, the University's faculty senate expressed its hope Hu's acquittal would lead to "full reinstatement of his position on the UTK faculty."
The Asian American Scholar Forum in New York sent one on Sept. 3, saying the government built a flimsy and false case against Hu.
The FBI put the professor and his family under surveillance for 21 months, the letter states. "The false accusation also caused the termination of his tenured employment at the University of Tennessee," the letter states.
"It is unfair for scientists to be prosecuted for failures to disclose encouraged activities when the federal agencies' disclosure rules were not clear," the forum wrote. "Many of these prosecutions appear to be based on the principle of presumed guilty until proven innocent.
"Asian American scientists have been targeted and affected disproportionately."