Resources and Opportunities Mentioned During the Webinar

Interested in grassroots activity? Write to your members of Congress to Take Action on Research Security

Take Action

• APS Board Statement On Treatment of Students and Scientists of International Origin in the US
• APS Board Statement on Open Science and a Recommitment to Research Principles

Webinar Information

Sponsored by: American Physical Society, American Institute of Physics, and American Association of Physics Teachers

Attitudes of the federal government towards scientific collaboration with China have grown significantly more negative in the last decade. As part of this trend, expectations surrounding disclosure of conflicts of commitment or financial conflicts of interests are rising rapidly. Correspondingly, arrests of scientists, the vast majority of them of Chinese national origin, have also accelerated, particularly under the Trump administration’s China Initiative. Many scientists, particularly those of Chinese national origin and those with close collaborations with China, are worried that they might make, or might have made, a mistake that will cost them not only their careers but their freedom.

At the same time, it has become progressively more difficult for Chinese students and scientists to enter the United States to study or work. Chinese students and researchers are viewed with increasing suspicion that they may be agents of the Chinese government, sent to commit national security or economic espionage. Restrictions on visas have increased, hampering the flow of scientific talent from China to the United States and causing more researchers to return to China after being educated here.

These trends affect all scientists. This webinar will lay out the current situation and what APS is doing about it. It will also provide opportunities for panelists and audience members to suggest actions by APS and other scientific societies, funding agencies, universities, departments and individuals that would support open science and protect against racial profiling while respecting research security, so that science and scientists can thrive.

After attending, webinar attendees will take away a better understanding of:

1. The situation faced by Chinese and Chinese American physicists, and potentially all physicists with Chinese collaborators and how that affects us all
2. How APS is advocating for open science and protecting its members
3. Ideas and strategies for supporting open science and protecting against racial profiling while respecting research security

Webinar attendees will have the opportunity to discuss how the current situation is affecting them and to provide suggestions for how to support open science and protect against racial profiling while respecting research security.

The webinar will be recorded, so please register even if you cannot attend live and you will receive a link to the recording.

Hosts

• Prof. S. James Gates (Brown University, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics & Affiliate Professor of Mathematics; APS, President)
• Dr. Jonathan Bagger (APS, CEO)

Moderators

• Prof. Geraldine L. Cochran (APS, Acting Head of Diversity (contractor) and Rutgers University)
• Prof. Andrea Liu (University of Pennsylvania, Past Speaker of APS Council)

Speakers

• Prof. David Gross (Former APS President, Organizer of US-China Roundtable)
• Prof. Sean Xinsheng Ling (Brown University, 1000 Talents participant)
• Prof. Xiaoliang Qi (Stanford University)
• Dr. Francis Slakey (APS, Chief External Affairs Officer)
• Prof. Xiaoxing Xi (Temple University, 2020 APS Sakharov Prize recipient)

Structure

2:00 - 2:15 p.m.: Welcome/Intro
2:15 - 3:00 p.m.: Presentations
3:00 - 3:10 p.m.: Break
3:10 - 4:00 p.m.: Discussion/Q&A