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| 2026-04-05 |
| [THEMIDWESTERNER] MYSTERY: UM ‘researcher’ from China jumps to his death on campus after questioning by feds. Death is latest in a series of troubling incidents involving at least nine students from China at the University of Michigan Chinese University of Michigan “researcher” jumped to his death from a building on campus last month after he was questioned by federal officials, sparking demands for an investigation by the Chinese government. Neither the University of Michigan nor the U.S. government have released any details on the death. “We are reaching out to share the sad news of the death of an assistant research scientist employed in the lab of Zetian Mi, who fell from an upper story of the GG Brown building last night,” read a March 20 internal email from UM’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department cited by both World Socialist Web Site and Eye on Digital China. Ten days later, the Chinese Consulate General in Chicago confirmed the incident followed “questioning by US law enforcement personnel.” “For some time now, the U.S. has overstretched the concept of national security for political manipulation and groundlessly interrogated and harassed Chinese students and scholars,” the consulate wrote in a post to X. “These moves infringe on Chinese citizens’ legitimate and lawful rights and interests, poison the atmosphere of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the U.S., and create a serious chilling effect. “China solemnly calls on the U.S. to carry out a full investigation, give the family of the victim and the Chinese side a responsible explanation, stop any discriminatory law enforcement targeting Chinese students and scholars in the U.S., and stop imposing wrongful convictions,” the post read. The post echoed comments from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian. “China will continue to take what is necessary to firmly defend Chinese citizens’ legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” Lin Jian said. A source in the University of Michigan Postdoctoral Researchers Organization identified the victim to WSWS as Danho Wang, an assistant research scientist focused on “III-nitride Materials; Optoelectronic Devices; Photoelectrochemical Devices; Energy Conversion; Molecular Beam Epitaxy,” according to Wang’s profile on the UM website. “My research stands at the intersection of interdisciplinary electrical engineering, material science, chemistry, and photonic/optoelectroics,” Wang wrote in an introduction on ResearchGate, researcher recruitment site. “Specifically, I delve into the exploration, synthesis, and characterization of III-nitride semiconductor thin films and nanostructures, which are crucial for advancing the next generation of electronic and photonic devices. Recently, my research scope has broadened to include the study of ferroelectric ScAlN materials and low-dimensional semiconductors.” Wang’s death marks the latest in a series of troubling incidents involving at least nine students from China at the University of Michigan in recent years. Roughly a week after Wang’s death, UM acting president Domenico Grasso testified in a congressional hearing titled “US Universities Under Siege: Foreign Espionage, Stolen Innovation, & the National Security Threat,” outlining UM’s collaboration with federal officials to counter concerns about Chinese influence. Beyond ending its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University last year, “the university has established a comprehensive program to safeguard our research from America’s adversaries,” Grasso said. Grasso told the House Committee on Education and the Workforce the decision to end UM’s partnership with the Chinese university came “after discussion with this committee and the House Select Committee on the CCP.” “We have a special bond with this committee as three of our close Michigan friends and neighbors, chairman (Tim) Walberg (R-Tipton) and congresswomen (Lisa) McLain (R-Bruce Twp.) and (Haley) Stevens (D-Birmingham) serve on it,” he said. “We look forward to continuing our dialogue with this committee to ensure that the interests of Michigan and of the nation are protected from both known threats we face today and those that may occur in the future.” In September, Chinese national and UM researcher Chengxuan Han was sentenced to three months in jail after pleading guilty to three counts of smuggling and making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials. Han admitted to sending multiple packages with biological samples of round worms to individuals at a UM laboratory where she was invited to work, though she initially denied the crimes when questioned by the FBI and CBP last year, according to the US Attorney’s Office. Han’s June 2025 arrest followed less than a week after US Attorney Jerome Gorgon announced charges of smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud against UM researcher Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, both Chinese nationals. “The FBI arrested Jian in connection with allegations related to Jian’s and Liu’s smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon,” according to the attorney’s office. “This noxious fungus causes ‘head blight,’ a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.” Jian pleaded guilty to smuggling charges and lying to the FBI and was sentenced in November to five months in jail, time served. Liu fled to China and “is unlikely to return to the U.S.,” The Associated Press reports. Another FBI counterintelligence investigation resulted in charges against five UM graduates from China in October 2024 for spying on Camp Grayling National Guard Base during a military training with Taiwanese soldiers in 2023. Authorities allege the group was found with cameras near military vehicles, tents and classified communications equipment as soldiers conducted Northern Strike, one of the largest training exercises in the U.S. The Chinese nationals charged in that case left the country following graduation in May 2024, but have outstanding arrest warrants in the U.S. Also in October, Chinese UM student Haoxiang Gao, 20, cast an illegal ballot that was counted in the 2024 election. Gao surrendered a Chinese passport to face state charges, but used a second passport to board a plane to Shanghai in January 2025, according to the federal criminal complaint cited by The Detroit News. A total of six students died at the University of Michigan in the last year, while 46 have died since July 2020, according to MLive. Related: University of Michigan: 2026-02-20 The mystery of why some people develop ALS University of Michigan: 2026-02-15 Federal data shows over $1 billion in foreign funding to Michigan's top public universities University of Michigan: 2025-12-22 5 times Campus Reform exposed foreign funding in 2025 |
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