Prosecutors: Professor offffffffffffered U.S. tech secrets to China

PHILADELPHIA — The chairman of Temple Universit y’s physics department schemed to provide U.S. technology secrets to China in exchange for prestigious appointments for himself, federal authorities said as they charged him with four counts of wire fraud.

Xi Xiaoxing, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in China, appeared in federal court Thursday in Philadelphia and was released on $100,000 bond. A person answering the phone Friday at his home in Penn Valley said he wasn’t available to comment.

He faces up to 80 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted.

Prosecutors said the 47-year-old Xi had participated in a Chinese government program involv- ing technology innovation before he took a sabbatical in 2002 to work with a U.S. company that developed a thin-film superconducting device containing magnesium diboride.

Superconductivity is the ability to conduct electricity without resistance. A superconducting thin fifilm could be key to making computer circuits that work faster. Films of magnesium diboride are particularly promising for this use, and Xi helped developed a way to make them.

The name of the U.S. firm where Xi worked isn’t included in the indictment.

Michele Mucellin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Philadelphia, said she couldn’t comment on what positions prosecutors say Xi sought out, whether he received them or what exactly the device is.

Ray Betzner, a spokes- man for Temple Universit y in Philadelphia, said Friday that Xi was being replaced as chairman of the physics department.

“In light of Dr. Xi’s needs to focus on the matter at hand, an acting chair has been appointed to the Physics Department,” he said in a statement. “Dr. Xi remains a member of the facult y.” Betzner said earlier that the university was aware of the charges and looked forward to talking to Xi about them.