aasforum

For Joyce Xi, the Justice Department's false accusations against her dad have led to a years-long search for answers. Click to read her op-ed in Teen Vogue detailing her experience and how the government’s discrimination and baseless prosecution of her dad has shaped her life.
The Department of Justice dismissed their appeal of three counts of wire fraud entered in favor of Dr. Feng “Franklin” Tao. Last month, AASF sent a letter directly to Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen requesting this dismissal and shared concerns from the Asian American scientific and academic community. 
Attorneys for Chinese American hydrologist Sherry Chen reached a historic settlement Thursday with the U.S. government in two lawsuits that sought accountability for Ms. Chen’s wrongful prosecution and termination from her job in 2014. The settlement is one of the largest paid to an individual plaintiff in Department of Commerce history. Ms. Chen will receive $550,000 from the Commerce Department and an annuity from the government valued at $1.25 million over 10 years.
Click to watch the webinar recording. In this webinar, the researchers who conducted the study entitled "Caught in the Crossfire: Fears of Chinese-American Scientists” will present their findings and we will hear from prominent speakers on the implications of these findings. Congresswoman Judy Chu will provide a keynote.
The Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) is proud to announce it has welcomed Gisela Perez Kusakawa as its founding executive director to lead the organization in providing a voice for Asian American scientists, researchers, and scholars across the country. AASF endeavors to protect the rights of Asian Americans and immigrants and promote academic belonging, openness, freedom, and equality for all.
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Dr. Arati Prabhakar as the next director for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in a 56-40 bipartisan vote. She is the first woman and first person of color confirmed by the Senate to lead OSTP. Prabhakar is an engineer and former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Today, the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) released a report, “Caught in the Crossfire: Fears of Chinese-American Scientists,” with data that shows a growing number of Chinese-origin American academics leaving the United States and switching from U.S. to Chinese affiliations. The research shows the chilling effect of potential federal investigation and prosecution since the U.S. Department of Justice’s “China Initiative,” which launched in 2018.
Asian American Scholar Forum data shows decline in scientists of Asian descent staying in the U.S. and likelihood of pursuing federal funding due to climate of fear.
This morning, oral arguments will be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for Dr. Xiaoxing Xi, a physics professor at Temple University and an internationally recognized expert in superconducting technology, after a federal court in Pennsylvania in April 2021 dismissed claims brought by Dr. Xi and his family against the U.S. government and the FBI agent involved in wrongly investigating and prosecuting him.