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2008-05-21 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Ex-professor accused of passing military secrets

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Posted by gorb 2008-05-21 03:22|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Not enough information here, but ITAR and EAR have carve-outs that exclude research from falling under their juristiction. But i will bet, that at the end of the day, Professor Reeces Pieces broke the law.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2008-05-21 14:30|| 2008-05-21 14:30|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm waiting to see what comes out. The guy is kind of a nerd. Doesn't seem like the kind of guy that would willingly pass secret information to Iranian and Chinese graduate students. I wonder why a background check wasn't done on these project personnel. The University of Tennessee doesn't have the resources/technical capability to conduct such background checks. It seems like the FBI would do this kind of background check. Roth seems like the kind of guy that would need instructions to get across the street. I'm just saying he appears to be fairly naive and might have been used unwittingly.

Posted by JohnQC 2008-05-21 16:42|| 2008-05-21 16:42|| Front Page Top

#3 I might add that when Roth looked around to hire graduate students, most likely Iranians and Chinese were readily available (maybe the only graduate students available). Engineering graduate programs have a plethora of foreign nationals. You see fewer and fewer U.S. graduate students in graduate programs. Diversity and multinationalism recruitment is celebrated and a policy in many universities including UT. I'm not saying Roth didn't pass secrets; he just doesn't seem like the type-but then one never knows. He has a lot of publications in plasma engineering and fusion processes that are available through Amazon. It would seem the Iranians or Chinese would have access to these publications.

Posted by JohnQC 2008-05-21 17:01|| 2008-05-21 17:01|| Front Page Top

#4 JohnQC, the preponderance of foreign nationals in our grad programs (science, engineering) isn't a matter of multiculti admissions so much as a lack of interested Americans with decent math scores.

It's a deep and really worrisome problem, one that I and others are trying hard to turn around one kid at a time. But it will take years at best -- knowledgeable annecdotal evidence is that we have to get them by about 8th grade or they're probably lost to that life direction.

Posted by lotp 2008-05-21 21:15|| 2008-05-21 21:15|| Front Page Top

#5 so much as a lack of interested Americans with decent math scores

And parents who used to be engineers...

Posted by Pappy 2008-05-21 21:26|| 2008-05-21 21:26|| Front Page Top

#6 It's also happens to be a net lifetime financial penalty for a US science/engineering grad to pursue a PhD. While for a foreign student it's a sure thing to a green card, and often, a salary several multiples that back home.

It's not shortsighted from the individual's perspective if a US grad opts to go for a law, MBA, or financial engineering advanced degree. The incentives are stacked in that direction. The preponderance of foreign sci/eng advanced degree grads serves to push down salaries for the citizen grads. Good for employers, not so good for the student who will spend the next 4 years in a PhD program ringing up debt or a $15K/year fellowship followed by a postdoc at slave wages.

Posted by ed 2008-05-21 21:35|| 2008-05-21 21:35|| Front Page Top

#7 My Dad was a Civil Engineer, and so am I. None of my kids wanted to be engineers...

/In all truth I was Biology Pre-Med track at UCSD and realized I'd SUCK as a doctor, then switched to graduate with a BSCE with a Radiation Physics minor at SDSU. While living in a fraternity. Life is interesting....

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2008-05-21 22:06|| 2008-05-21 22:06|| Front Page Top

#8 ...who will spend the next 4 years in a PhD program...

4 years?? My boyfriend took 4 years to get his PhD. This was considered lightning-quick. But then he was a sniff theorist.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2008-05-21 23:50|| 2008-05-21 23:50|| Front Page Top

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