Florida State Representative Joseph Geller (D) wants to know how many publicly funded Florida scientists have links to Chinese institutions that they haven’t disclosed.
Geller serves on a Republican-led panel that was created on December 30, 2019 by Jose Oliva, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
The panel is tasked with examining “the integrity” of the state’s research institutions. Florida is the only state to take such a step, which is in line with an expanding federal effort to understand the scope of foreign influence.
Geller says he “has great confidence” that the committee’s chairman, Chris Sprowls (R), will move quickly “to gather the facts of what happened.”
Their efforts have already resulted in the arrest of three Boston-area researchers, including Charles Lieber, a prominent Harvard University nanoscientist.
