University offers to rehire prof acquitted of ties to China

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The University of Tennessee at Knoxville has offered to reinstate a professor who was acquitted of federal charges that accused him of hiding his relationship with a Chinese university while receiving NASA research grants. According to an Oct. 14 letter obtained by the Knoxville News Sentinel, Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor John Zomchick offered Anming Hu a tenured engineering professor job along with some back pay and other considerations. Hu was arrested in February 2020, charged with wire fraud and making false statements. The judge declared a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in June, then acquitted Hu last month.