On February 15, 2018, Professor Ning Xi (席宁), a world-renowned expert in robotics, was arrested and charged by the U.S. government for defrauding Michigan State University (MSU) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) with false expense claims of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was indicted on October 24, 2018.
On July 11, 2019, the U.S. District Court Chief Judge for the Western District of Michigan ordered the dismissal of the Xi case with prejudice. The government filed a motion to dismiss the indictment “for the reason that the jury deadlocked after an eight-day trial and the Government does not reasonably expect that the proofs would meaningfully change in a retrial of this matter or that retrial would produce a different result.” According to media report, Professor Xi, a Chinese national and U.S. permanent resident, started work at MSU in 1997. He then served as the founding head of the department of mechanical and biomedical engineering at City University of Hong Kong (CUHK) between 2011 and 2013 but returned to MSU the following year. He resigned from MSU in 2015. According to the indictment and media reports, MSU had alleged Xi violated its policy by accepting a second tenured position at CUHK, and said he was uncooperative when confronted. MSU and IEEE then reviewed Xi’s travel reimbursements and alleged that many were fabricated. Professor Xi's lawyer wrote in a statement that "Dr. Xi submitted travel reimbursement requests to MSU and IEEE for the sole purpose of being reimbursed for air travel expenses that he incurred as a result of his MSU and IEEE-related travel.” Hong Kong University announced in January 2016 that Professor Xi became its new Chair Professor of Robotics and Automation. Prof. Xi has published more than four hundred technical papers in professional journals and conferences. |
席宁教授，一位世界知名的机器人专家。2018年2月15日，席宁教授由于被美国政府指控诈骗密歇根州立大学 (MSU) 和电气和电子工程师学会 (IEEE) 数十万美元的报销费用而遭到逮捕。他于2018年10月24日被起诉。
2019年7月11日，美国密歇根州西区地方法院首席法官永久性撤销席的案件。政府主动提出撤销起诉，“理由是陪审团在8天的审判后陷入僵局，政府预料它所有的证据不能在重审此案中发生合理变化，或重审会产生不同的结果。” 据媒体报道，席教授是中国公民和美国永久居民，1997年开始在密歇根州立大学工作，2011年至2013年担任香港城市大学机械及生物医学工程系的创始系主任，次年回到密歇根州立大学。他于2015年从密歇根州立大学辞职。 根据起诉书和媒体报道，密歇根州立大学指控席违反了该校的政策，接受了香港城市大学的第二个终身职位，并表示他在面对该问题时不合作。密歇根州立大学和IEEE随后检查席教授的出差报销费用，然后指责许多申报是编造的。席教授的律师在一份声明中写道，“席博士向密歇根州立大学和IEEE提交的出差报销申请，唯一的原因是报销他因密歇根州立大学和IEEE相关事项的公务出差而产生的机票等费用。” 2016年1月，香港大学宣布席教授成为该校机器人与自动化专业的新任特聘主任教授。席教授曾在专业期刊和会议上发表过技术论文400余篇。 |