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Here's a more complete account of yesterday's jury verdict in the case of SIU mathematics professor Mingqing Xiao under the government's controversial China Initiative. science.org/content/articl…

NSF wants to change the U.S. innovation landscape with its new "engines" program. Winners will reap the biggest cash award in the agency's history. NSF is holding its first webinar tomorrow, or you can read an analysis of the initiative here. science.org/content/articl…

Congress is debating how to improve the geographic diversity of NSF funding in the massive China bill now being conferenced. Some 200 institutions are urging legislators to reject a 20% setaside for EPSCoR in the Senate version science.org/content/articl…

Meet President Biden's (presumptive) new science advisor, Arati Prabhakar, and learn about the agenda she inherits from her disgraced predecessor. science.org/content/articl…

Former U. of Tennessee engineering professor Simon Ang was sentenced today to 1 year and 1 day in prison for lying to the FBI about his status as an inventor. He was also fined $5500. MORE...

...Ang had pleaded guilty in January to a single felony after the government dropped other charges brought under an initiative meant to thwart economic espionage by China. The sentence, from U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks, means Ang could be released early for good behavior.

CORRECTION: Ang was a professor at the U. of Arkansas. My apologies.

The massive U.S. innovation bill now before Congress could significantly impact life for STEM faculty and students by changing US immigration policy and requiring reporting of individual foreign gifts... MORE to come...

... Here's what you should know as lawmakers try to reconcile House and Senate versions of the USICA/COMPETES bills...science.org/content/articl…... AND science.org/content/articl…

Does any basic research need to be classified? NSF wants the National Academies to take a fresh look at a Cold War-era directive (NSDD-189) that sees openness as a boon, not a bane, to national security. Will Congress listen? science.org/content/articl…

The government's SBIR program is once again having a near-death experience, courtesy of Rand Paul. But the $4 billion-a-year program to support small business may survive thanks to aggressive lobbying by the Pentagon for Congress to reach a compromise. science.org/content/articl…

Enough Senate Republicans rallied around a mandated increase in federal research funds to their states to keep alive a massive U.S. innovation bill that Democrats say is essential for continued US leadership. How fast will it move through Congress? science.org/content/articl…

A federal judge today gave 1 year probation to Mingqing Xiao, a Southern Illinois U. math prof charged under the controversial China Initiative. The judge rejected a 12-month prison sentence sought by US prosecutors, saying incarceration would serve no purpose. More to come...

... and Mingqing Xiao's lawyer thanks US District Judge Yandle for "a fair sentence...that clearly recognized the unfair circumstances surrounding this entire prosecution." Read the full story here: science.org/content/articl…

Former TAMU material scientist Zhengdong Cheng pleaded guilty today to two counts of making false statements to NASA that hid his ties to two Chinese universities and agreed to repay NASA $86,876. It's the latest case to crumble under the US government's China Initiative...

... which had initially charged Cheng with attempting to defraud the government. Waiving a trial, Cheng was sentenced to time served, having been in prison from Aug 2020 to Sept 2021 while awaiting trial, and fined $20,000. He was fired by TAMU in December 2020 after his arrest.

The U.S. government's attempt to prosecute academic scientists for fraud under the erstwhile China Initiative may be at a dead end. Rulings by federal judges in three distinct cases last week explain why. science.org/content/articl…

What you need to know about the new research security provisions in the CHIPS and Science Act--and how NSF is gearing up to use data analytics to spot scientists failing to disclose foreign ties. science.org/content/articl…

NSF commits $5 million for a STEM education and research center at site of destroyed Arecibo telescope. Its press release on the solicitation [nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf2… ] cites a mandate in the new CHIPS and Science Act to enhance the work of the observatory. Proposals due Feb. 23

... oops. The deadline for Arecibo proposals for a "reimagined" center is 28 February. And NSF expects to make one 5-year award.