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🧵***THREAD 1/8***🧵
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This is the Great Lakes Chinese Center
a.k.a. Spartan Chinese School
Spartan Chinese School is a not-for-profit K-12 school, funded by MSU donors like Chinese Academy of Sciences' financial advisor to the Dean, billionaire Jonathan KS Choi.
Choi's Sun Wah Foundation foundation has donated millions to the university since 2004.
The MSU K-12 program is hardwired into Michigan State University's intellectual property hub and startup incubator called the "Innovation Center," and its infrastructure through the K-12 school's leaders, who also hold senior positions in IT with MSU.
The K-12 program's website is archived as far back as 2007, which is just after Konnech's SchoolBrief launched a pilot, and additionally just following the announcement of Konnech building a website for the Confucius Institute.
The Confucius Institutes are generally responsible for Chinese "educational" programs operating out of American universities, but are managed directly by the Central Committee in Mainland China.
In 2021, Konnech moved into MSU's Innovation Center as news broke of an alleged data leak of American voters' personal data onto servers in Wuhan following the 2020 Presidential election.
Michigan State University is the home to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, the ILLIDAN Intelligent Data Analytics Lab, and performs research for the Center for Identification Technology Research, or CITeR biometrics lab, both with their heaping share of ties to Mainland China and sensitive PLA-connected research universities.
The "C9 League" of universities in China is akin to America's "Ivy League" - among the most prestigious and influential in the world.
I have highlighted previously the talent pipelines that cross MSU and other universities in Michigan, relying heavily on Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Microsoft Research.
There is a lot to break down in this story, so hopefully this will help to help digest it.
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1/
This is the Great Lakes Chinese Center
a.k.a. Spartan Chinese School
Spartan Chinese School is a not-for-profit K-12 school, funded by MSU donors like Chinese Academy of Sciences' financial advisor to the Dean, billionaire Jonathan KS Choi.
Choi's Sun Wah Foundation foundation has donated millions to the university since 2004.
The MSU K-12 program is hardwired into Michigan State University's intellectual property hub and startup incubator called the "Innovation Center," and its infrastructure through the K-12 school's leaders, who also hold senior positions in IT with MSU.
The K-12 program's website is archived as far back as 2007, which is just after Konnech's SchoolBrief launched a pilot, and additionally just following the announcement of Konnech building a website for the Confucius Institute.
The Confucius Institutes are generally responsible for Chinese "educational" programs operating out of American universities, but are managed directly by the Central Committee in Mainland China.
In 2021, Konnech moved into MSU's Innovation Center as news broke of an alleged data leak of American voters' personal data onto servers in Wuhan following the 2020 Presidential election.
Michigan State University is the home to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, the ILLIDAN Intelligent Data Analytics Lab, and performs research for the Center for Identification Technology Research, or CITeR biometrics lab, both with their heaping share of ties to Mainland China and sensitive PLA-connected research universities.
The "C9 League" of universities in China is akin to America's "Ivy League" - among the most prestigious and influential in the world.
I have highlighted previously the talent pipelines that cross MSU and other universities in Michigan, relying heavily on Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Microsoft Research.
There is a lot to break down in this story, so hopefully this will help to help digest it.
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2/
The Spartan Chinese School saved a register of some of their teachers since 2010, however, due to the nature of the information, I will not post the link publicly, but it is archived in its original spreadsheet .xlsx format.
Several of these email addresses are Mainland China domains and spanned from 2010-2019.
The Spartan Chinese School saved a register of some of their teachers since 2010, however, due to the nature of the information, I will not post the link publicly, but it is archived in its original spreadsheet .xlsx format.
Several of these email addresses are Mainland China domains and spanned from 2010-2019.
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Since at least 2013, Spartan Chinese School has filed its annual report through a Michigan State University employee and software developer named Bin Gao.
Gao is a BS graduate of Nanjing University and has been employed by Michigan State since leaving Dayton University in 2005.
Gao has been responsible for systems integration and data conversion since at least 2014, just before the launch of the ILLIDAN Lab.
Since at least 2013, Spartan Chinese School has filed its annual report through a Michigan State University employee and software developer named Bin Gao.
Gao is a BS graduate of Nanjing University and has been employed by Michigan State since leaving Dayton University in 2005.
Gao has been responsible for systems integration and data conversion since at least 2014, just before the launch of the ILLIDAN Lab.
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Between 2014 and 2017, however, The school's annual reports were all filed on October 15, 2017 by what appears to be a batch filing of documents filled out by different people on the very same day for years in the past.
Each box appears similar in handwriting.
Between 2014 and 2017, however, The school's annual reports were all filed on October 15, 2017 by what appears to be a batch filing of documents filled out by different people on the very same day for years in the past.
Each box appears similar in handwriting.
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Bin Gao was in charge of the new Confucius Institute-funded, Konnech-built website from at least 2008, and worked up to becoming Principal in 2012, joined by Guangming He as Vice Principal.
Guangming He became Principal in the following 2014 term.
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-web.archive.org/web/2018083102…
Bin Gao was in charge of the new Confucius Institute-funded, Konnech-built website from at least 2008, and worked up to becoming Principal in 2012, joined by Guangming He as Vice Principal.
Guangming He became Principal in the following 2014 term.
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-web.archive.org/web/2018083102…
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Guangming He, an MSU graduate, joined MSU Business Connect in October of 2011 as an Information Management Analyst.
Guangming He provides strategic recommendations and consulting for information technology to the Innovation Center and provides assistance to staff with need of data retrieval and analysis from MSU campus-wide systems such as CGA/OSP proposal/grant data warehouses.
Guangming was software developer and project leads for a local startup company, IDV Solutions. He focused on development of applications that visualize data on map and worked with clients including from governments, industry, and NGOs.
IDV is a company that offers "visual fusion" of data, or collecting and analyzing massive amounts of data for surveillance.
A project just after Guangming He's departure was called "Virtual City" monitoring the border between the U.S. and Canada.
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Guangming He, an MSU graduate, joined MSU Business Connect in October of 2011 as an Information Management Analyst.
Guangming He provides strategic recommendations and consulting for information technology to the Innovation Center and provides assistance to staff with need of data retrieval and analysis from MSU campus-wide systems such as CGA/OSP proposal/grant data warehouses.
Guangming was software developer and project leads for a local startup company, IDV Solutions. He focused on development of applications that visualize data on map and worked with clients including from governments, industry, and NGOs.
IDV is a company that offers "visual fusion" of data, or collecting and analyzing massive amounts of data for surveillance.
A project just after Guangming He's departure was called "Virtual City" monitoring the border between the U.S. and Canada.
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Lifeng Luo is the Spartan Chinese School's current Vice President and head of Academic Affairs. Luo is a graduate of Peking University who worked at Princeton prior to arriving at Michigan State in 2009.
Luo was part of a Call for Papers from the Meteorologica Sinica to mostly Mainland scientists, but also government-funded researchers in America.
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Lifeng Luo is the Spartan Chinese School's current Vice President and head of Academic Affairs. Luo is a graduate of Peking University who worked at Princeton prior to arriving at Michigan State in 2009.
Luo was part of a Call for Papers from the Meteorologica Sinica to mostly Mainland scientists, but also government-funded researchers in America.
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Xuefei Huang and Yiying Tong are both professors at Michigan State University and have both spent time working for the Spartan Chinese School.
Huang is a Columbia graduate, and has been at MSU since 2008.
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She started a vaccine company in 2018 called Iaso Therapeutics through her connections at the MSU Innovation Center and was funded by the NSF, NIAID, MSBDC, and the university themselves.
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In 2016, Yiying Tong was the IT specialist for the school as Guangming He stepped down as Principal to oversee "school activities." Tong remained at the K-12 school's position through 2019.
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Yiying Tong is a computer graphics specialist, a Zhejiang University graduate, a USC PhD., and arrived at the school in 2008 after a 2-year stint at Caltech.
Tong has collaborated with many researchers who are also the CITeR lab roster, for example Chinese Academy of Sciences member Anil Jain.
-linkedin.com/in/xuefei-huan…
Xuefei Huang and Yiying Tong are both professors at Michigan State University and have both spent time working for the Spartan Chinese School.
Huang is a Columbia graduate, and has been at MSU since 2008.
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She started a vaccine company in 2018 called Iaso Therapeutics through her connections at the MSU Innovation Center and was funded by the NSF, NIAID, MSBDC, and the university themselves.
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In 2016, Yiying Tong was the IT specialist for the school as Guangming He stepped down as Principal to oversee "school activities." Tong remained at the K-12 school's position through 2019.
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Yiying Tong is a computer graphics specialist, a Zhejiang University graduate, a USC PhD., and arrived at the school in 2008 after a 2-year stint at Caltech.
Tong has collaborated with many researchers who are also the CITeR lab roster, for example Chinese Academy of Sciences member Anil Jain.
-linkedin.com/in/xuefei-huan…
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Guangming He of the MSU Innovation Center and Xuefei Huang remained on the Board of Directors of Spartan Chinese School in 2022, well after the Konnech data breach had occurred following their arrival to the building.
spartanchineseschool.org/board-of-direc…
Guangming He of the MSU Innovation Center and Xuefei Huang remained on the Board of Directors of Spartan Chinese School in 2022, well after the Konnech data breach had occurred following their arrival to the building.
spartanchineseschool.org/board-of-direc…
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Yiying Tong was published in a couple of journals with biometrics savant and Chinese Academy of Sciences member Anil Jain in 2008 and 2010 through work in the CITeR laboratory.
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Tong also graduated from Zhejiang University in 2000 alongside another MSU professor who also did considerably more sensitive work for the U.S. government - Xiaoming Liu.
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Liu spoke to the kids at the Spartan Chinese School in 2018.
-web.cse.msu.edu/~ytong/index_f…
web.archive.org/web/2023081801…
Yiying Tong was published in a couple of journals with biometrics savant and Chinese Academy of Sciences member Anil Jain in 2008 and 2010 through work in the CITeR laboratory.
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- (sorry)
Tong also graduated from Zhejiang University in 2000 alongside another MSU professor who also did considerably more sensitive work for the U.S. government - Xiaoming Liu.
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Liu spoke to the kids at the Spartan Chinese School in 2018.
-web.cse.msu.edu/~ytong/index_f…
web.archive.org/web/2023081801…
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What this means is that the same person who funded Konnech to launch a website for the Confucius Institute - Chinese billionaire Jonathan KS Choi - while pushing out a CRM platform for Detroit Public Schools contributed not only to the IT head of the Innovation Center where Konnech relocated in 2021...
But Jonathan Choi also indirectly funded at least one researcher in the Computer Science and Engineering department named Xiaoming Liu who had his hands all over U.S.government-funded research at MSU.
What this means is that the same person who funded Konnech to launch a website for the Confucius Institute - Chinese billionaire Jonathan KS Choi - while pushing out a CRM platform for Detroit Public Schools contributed not only to the IT head of the Innovation Center where Konnech relocated in 2021...
But Jonathan Choi also indirectly funded at least one researcher in the Computer Science and Engineering department named Xiaoming Liu who had his hands all over U.S.government-funded research at MSU.
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Before we move along, plug in the timeline that follows all of the events of the Spartan Chinese School we just examined (much of this information is in my S-u-b5t^ck in my bio!) -
▶️2013 - Eugene Yu opened shell company called "CNBrief, LLC"
▶️2015 - Yu closed that shell and opened "GY Great Lakes, LLC" echoing the "Great Lakes Chinese Center" and another Jonathan Choi-funded MSU program, Global Young Leaders Network, or GYLN.
▶️2016 - Yu closed "GY Great Lakes, LLC"
▶️2019 - Eugene Yu's wife, Donna Wang opens another shell, "3ed Hub, LLC," which echoes Jonathan Choi's Beijing school called 3e International School.
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🧵***THREAD***🧵
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Of all people to be involved with a highly influential Chinese billionaire's non-profit product, both Xiaoming Liu and Yiying Tong were perfectly positioned between two of MSU's cutting-edge, sensitive government technology laboratories:
Center for Identification Technology Research - CITeR
and
ILLIDAN Intelligent Data Analytics Lab
Here is a video from some of his work:
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Before we move along, plug in the timeline that follows all of the events of the Spartan Chinese School we just examined (much of this information is in my S-u-b5t^ck in my bio!) -
▶️2013 - Eugene Yu opened shell company called "CNBrief, LLC"
▶️2015 - Yu closed that shell and opened "GY Great Lakes, LLC" echoing the "Great Lakes Chinese Center" and another Jonathan Choi-funded MSU program, Global Young Leaders Network, or GYLN.
▶️2016 - Yu closed "GY Great Lakes, LLC"
▶️2019 - Eugene Yu's wife, Donna Wang opens another shell, "3ed Hub, LLC," which echoes Jonathan Choi's Beijing school called 3e International School.
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🧵***THREAD***🧵
1/
Of all people to be involved with a highly influential Chinese billionaire's non-profit product, both Xiaoming Liu and Yiying Tong were perfectly positioned between two of MSU's cutting-edge, sensitive government technology laboratories:
Center for Identification Technology Research - CITeR
and
ILLIDAN Intelligent Data Analytics Lab
Here is a video from some of his work:
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Acta...MS**
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CITeR is the primary university-based facial and fingerprint biometrics lab for the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense.
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Michigan State University has been a partner university with West Virginia University since CITeR’s founding when it became a site in 2019, that focused on privacy, security, natural language processing, genomics and forensics.
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IDIAP in Switzerland also joined as the first international site in 2019, focused on biometrics and presentation attack detection.
The University of Arizona was where one of the PRC's leading AI researchers got a running start to run much of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation. I covered Feiyue Wang in a thread you can find here:
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Arizona was the second site since the founding, but retired in 2016.
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One of the center's premiere scientists, Anil Jain was elected in to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019
likely for his contributions at Tsinghua University between roughly 2009 and 2013
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And so with Liu's visit to speak at the school, and if he received any perks as a result of it, there was provided a backchannel back from billionaire Jonathan KS Choi to Anil Jain through Xiaoming Liu and his interactions with the Spartan Chinese School.
These types of scenarios are precisely why the FBI has repeatedly deemed these type of Chinese-funded and operated programs a major risk to national security.citer.clarkson.edu/about/center-o…
CITeR is the primary university-based facial and fingerprint biometrics lab for the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense.
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Michigan State University has been a partner university with West Virginia University since CITeR’s founding when it became a site in 2019, that focused on privacy, security, natural language processing, genomics and forensics.
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IDIAP in Switzerland also joined as the first international site in 2019, focused on biometrics and presentation attack detection.
The University of Arizona was where one of the PRC's leading AI researchers got a running start to run much of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation. I covered Feiyue Wang in a thread you can find here:
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Arizona was the second site since the founding, but retired in 2016.
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One of the center's premiere scientists, Anil Jain was elected in to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019
likely for his contributions at Tsinghua University between roughly 2009 and 2013
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And so with Liu's visit to speak at the school, and if he received any perks as a result of it, there was provided a backchannel back from billionaire Jonathan KS Choi to Anil Jain through Xiaoming Liu and his interactions with the Spartan Chinese School.
These types of scenarios are precisely why the FBI has repeatedly deemed these type of Chinese-funded and operated programs a major risk to national security.citer.clarkson.edu/about/center-o…
3/
A key thing to note in the case of Xiaoming Liu is that he consulted the Department of Justice's think tank, the National Institute of Justice, in 2011, only having resident status in the U.S., just something to note and consider.
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Naturally, coming from a known pipeline of PLA talent, Zhejiang University, brings its set of red flags, but this case is a bit different:
One, because of crossed talent pipelines to and from C9 League universities in China with Carnegie Mellon University...
But TWO, because he was also at MSU in the same establishment that is directly connected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences with Yiying Tong, who is another 2000 Zhejiang University graduate.
This may not seem significant now, but after one more look at Zhejiang University's alumni group soon will make it apparent.
One of the early private sector donors to the CITeR lab was Cogent Systems, but purchased by 3M in 2010.
Just before the purchase of Cogent Systems, the FBI, DOJ, U.S. Army, and DHS all funded Anil Jain...
...while he was teaching at Tsinghua University on what looks like a Chinese talent plan. This thread is to help you inform and decide for yourself:
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Setting that aside, Cogent's former owner, Ming Hsieh, launched a genetics startup called Fulgent Genetics in in 2016, based in southern California.
As you can probably guess...also one in Shanghai, China called Shanghai Junxi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. 上海君熙生物科技有限公司
A key thing to note in the case of Xiaoming Liu is that he consulted the Department of Justice's think tank, the National Institute of Justice, in 2011, only having resident status in the U.S., just something to note and consider.
-
Naturally, coming from a known pipeline of PLA talent, Zhejiang University, brings its set of red flags, but this case is a bit different:
One, because of crossed talent pipelines to and from C9 League universities in China with Carnegie Mellon University...
But TWO, because he was also at MSU in the same establishment that is directly connected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences with Yiying Tong, who is another 2000 Zhejiang University graduate.
This may not seem significant now, but after one more look at Zhejiang University's alumni group soon will make it apparent.
One of the early private sector donors to the CITeR lab was Cogent Systems, but purchased by 3M in 2010.
Just before the purchase of Cogent Systems, the FBI, DOJ, U.S. Army, and DHS all funded Anil Jain...
...while he was teaching at Tsinghua University on what looks like a Chinese talent plan. This thread is to help you inform and decide for yourself:
-------
Setting that aside, Cogent's former owner, Ming Hsieh, launched a genetics startup called Fulgent Genetics in in 2016, based in southern California.
As you can probably guess...also one in Shanghai, China called Shanghai Junxi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. 上海君熙生物科技有限公司
4/
Before you begin wondering why I'm waxing on with the next bit, this is critical to connecting back to our United States Homeland.
Fulgent Genetics is a main entity behind the NIH's genomic sequencing initiatives. Fulgent Genetics, coincidentally, also had the Los Angeles County Covid-19 testing contract, which met fierce opposition from Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Fulgent Genetics threatened to sue him, saying his claims of their ties to China were defamatory.
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As would be expected of a biotech executive, Fulgent Genetics' Director Hanlin Gao also has a network of business dealings in China.
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He and Ming Hsieh are listed together on the same public access business registry in Mainland China.
These links won't work in 12 hours, but here ya go:
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Hanlin Gao is listed as the legal representative of the Chinese Mainland joint-venture, as well as full owner of its primary investor, Shenzhen Fukin Gene Technology Co., Ltd. 深圳福金基因科技有限公司, which was established just days before the Chinese branch of Fulgent Genetics.
...But Hanlin Gao is also listed as a "general manager" of a Zhejiang company, with an address that places it in a science park in downtown Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
Before you begin wondering why I'm waxing on with the next bit, this is critical to connecting back to our United States Homeland.
Fulgent Genetics is a main entity behind the NIH's genomic sequencing initiatives. Fulgent Genetics, coincidentally, also had the Los Angeles County Covid-19 testing contract, which met fierce opposition from Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Fulgent Genetics threatened to sue him, saying his claims of their ties to China were defamatory.
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As would be expected of a biotech executive, Fulgent Genetics' Director Hanlin Gao also has a network of business dealings in China.
-------
He and Ming Hsieh are listed together on the same public access business registry in Mainland China.
These links won't work in 12 hours, but here ya go:
-------
Hanlin Gao is listed as the legal representative of the Chinese Mainland joint-venture, as well as full owner of its primary investor, Shenzhen Fukin Gene Technology Co., Ltd. 深圳福金基因科技有限公司, which was established just days before the Chinese branch of Fulgent Genetics.
...But Hanlin Gao is also listed as a "general manager" of a Zhejiang company, with an address that places it in a science park in downtown Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.
5/
Why all of this in a thread about biometrics, Big Data, and cybersecurity?
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Ming Hsieh is a MAJOR donor to the University of Southern California's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, even having it named in his honor.
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If you've been following my work for any amount of time, you may recall my prior thread on the ILLIDAN Lab, which includes membership from Ming Hsieh's namesake department at USC.
The work that the two departments collaborate together on then goes to further profit their universities by making its way into tech incubators, where it will wait for the highest bidder, like this indoor air quality project:
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But yet another school which I threaded a bit on their connections to China as well, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is also a member of the ILLIDAN Lab at MSU. Read more about their connections by picking up this thread here:
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That's where the story starts getting even more interesting.
***END OF THREAD 2***
/18/1/ nextminghsiehece.usc.edu
Why all of this in a thread about biometrics, Big Data, and cybersecurity?
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Ming Hsieh is a MAJOR donor to the University of Southern California's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, even having it named in his honor.
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If you've been following my work for any amount of time, you may recall my prior thread on the ILLIDAN Lab, which includes membership from Ming Hsieh's namesake department at USC.
The work that the two departments collaborate together on then goes to further profit their universities by making its way into tech incubators, where it will wait for the highest bidder, like this indoor air quality project:
-
But yet another school which I threaded a bit on their connections to China as well, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is also a member of the ILLIDAN Lab at MSU. Read more about their connections by picking up this thread here:
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That's where the story starts getting even more interesting.
***END OF THREAD 2***
/18/1/ nextminghsiehece.usc.edu
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