Feng "Franklin" Tao
Born(1971-08-28)August 28, 1971
Alma mater
Awards
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Berkeley

Feng "Franklin" Tao[2][3] (born August 28, 1971) is a chemical engineer who was a Miller Associate Professor at the University of Kansas.[4] His research areas of specialization are heterogeneous catalysis, energy chemistry, nanoscience and surface science. He has published over 180 papers in international journals.

He served on the advisory boards of Chemical Society Reviews and Catalysis Science & Technology.[5]

Education and career

Tao pursued a PhD in Physical Chemistry at Princeton University from 2002 to 2007[6][7] and conducted postdoctoral research in catalysis at University of California at Berkeley.

He started his career as an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame in 2014.[8] During his tenure at the University of Kansas, he became Miller Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering and Chemistry[9] and also served as the Director of Nanocatalysis for Chemical and Energy Transformations Lab.[10]

Tao did research on in situ studies of chemistry & structure of materials in reactive environments,[11] and conducted his further studies on reactor for tracking catalyst nanoparticles[12] in liquid at high temperature under a high-pressure gas phase with X-ray absorption spectroscopy.[13]

Federal charges

In 2019, the United States Department of Justice indicted Tao for 'failing to disclose conflict of interest with a Chinese university',[14] as the first case of its China Initiative.[15][16] The evidence used by the Department of Justice was obtained after Tao was reported to the FBI for alleged espionage by a vengeful co-author, who presented manufactured evidence to the FBI. Based on this evidence, the FBI obtained a search warrant. Tao was subsequently indicted for an email regarding a contract to teach in China, but not for alleged espionage.[17][18] Tao and his lawyer have rebutted the accusations, claiming that the contract was neither signed nor accepted by Tao. Using a GoFundMe campaign and loans from family members, Tao and his family raised "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to fund their defense.[16]

On April 7, 2022, Tao was convicted by a jury of "three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements" for not disclosing the contract on conflict of interest forms.[19][20][21]

On September 20, 2022, a federal judge threw out the three convictions of wire fraud, leaving the count of making false statements on a form. The judge ruled that prosecutors had not provided sufficient evidence to prove the wire fraud convictions.[22] On January 18, 2023, the judge sentenced Tao time served and supervised release, with no additional prison time, saying his case "is not an espionage case" and the prosecutor presented no evidence that Tao received any money for his work in China.[23] The judge also noted that Tao had published 16 papers and a book while working at home on unpaid administrative leave since being banned from KU's campus in 2019, saying that such a high level of productivity was indicative of his "continued value to society."[24]

Personal life

Tao is married to Hong Peng, a radiologist.[16]

Awards and honors

  • 2007, IUPAC Young Chemists Award[25]
  • 2012, AVS Paul Holloway Award[25]
  • 2014, NSF CAREER Award[26]
  • 2017, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)[9]

See also

  • Gang Chen (engineer), another Chinese–American engineer controversially indicted as part of the China Initiative

References

  1. ↑ "Franklin Feng Tao". ku.edu. 2017-12-04. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019.
  2. ↑ Remmel, Ariana (2022-09-26). "Federal judge acquits chemist Feng "Franklin" Tao of wire fraud". American Chemical Society Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  3. ↑ "University of Kansas Researcher Indicted for Fraud for Failing to Disclose Conflict of Interest with Chinese University". The United States Department of Justice. 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  4. ↑ "Franklin Tao". Department of Chemistry. 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  5. ↑ Dame, Marketing Communications: Web // University of Notre. "Franklin (Feng) Tao accepted invitation to serve on advisory board of Catalysis Science and Technology, a new journal led by UK Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) // Notre Dame Energy // University of Notre Dame". Notre Dame Energy. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  6. ↑ "Franklin (Feng) Tao". Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. 2014-11-12. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  7. ↑ Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (14 March 2022). "Have Chinese Spies Infiltrated American Campuses?". The New Yorker. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "NSF Award Search: Award#1462121 - CAREER: Catalysis on Singly Dispersed Bimetallic Catalytic Sites". nsf.gov. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  9. 1 2 "Franklin (Feng) Tao named AAAS Fellow". Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. 2017-12-04. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  10. ↑ "Franklin Feng Tao" (PDF).
  11. ↑ Tao, Franklin (Feng); Salmeron, Miquel (2011-01-14). "In Situ Studies of Chemistry and Structure of Materials in Reactive Environments". Science. 331 (6014): 171–174. Bibcode:2011Sci...331..171T. doi:10.1126/science.1197461. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 21233377.
  12. ↑ Nguyen, Luan; Tao, Franklin (Feng) (2018-02-01). "Reactor for tracking catalyst nanoparticles in liquid at high temperature under a high-pressure gas phase with X-ray absorption spectroscopy". Review of Scientific Instruments. 89 (2): 024102. Bibcode:2018RScI...89b4102N. doi:10.1063/1.5003184. ISSN 0034-6748. OSTI 1540128. PMID 29495804.
  13. ↑ Attorney: Kansas Researcher Denies Concealing Chinese Work Jan. 16, 2020 U.S News
  14. ↑ "University of Kansas Researcher Indicted for Fraud for Failing to Disclose Conflict of Interest with Chinese University". www.justice.gov. 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  15. ↑ "University of Kansas chemist Feng 'Franklin' Tao's attorneys move to dismiss charges for fraud and false statements". cen.acs.org. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  16. 1 2 3 "How US scheme to catch Chinese spies is enabling what it tries to prevent". South China Morning Post. 2022-01-22. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  17. ↑ Prasso, Sheridan (2021-12-14). "China Initiative Set Out to Catch Spies. It Didn't Find Many". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  18. ↑ Nakashima, Ellen (2021-08-24). "Kansas professor says FBI misled court in alleging hidden ties to Chinese government".
  19. ↑ "Kansas researcher convicted of illegal secret China work". POLITICO. Associated Press. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  20. ↑ "Kansas Researcher Convicted of Illegally Hiding Ties to China". VOA. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  21. ↑ "Kansas researcher convicted of illegal secret China work". ABC News. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  22. ↑ Stafford, Margaret (September 20, 2022). "Judge tosses most charges against Kansas researcher". Associated Press. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  23. ↑ Stafford, Margaret (January 18, 2023). "Kansas researcher given time served in China-related case". Associated Press. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  24. ↑ Mervis, Jeffrey (18 Jan 2023). "No jail time for Kansas professor convicted for undisclosed research ties to China: Sentencing of Franklin Tao is latest rejection by U.S. courts of government's prosecution of Chinese-born scientists". Science Insider. Retrieved 20 Jan 2023.
  25. 1 2 "Franklin (Feng) Tao | Petroleum Engineering 2016 | Conferenceseries Ltd". petroleumengineering.insightconferences.com. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  26. ↑ "Award Abstract # 1462121 - CAREER: Catalysis on Singly Dispersed Bimetallic Catalytic Sites". National Science Foundation. 1 Dec 2014. Retrieved 20 Jan 2023.
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