India-born US citizen drives research into light at sanctioned Chinese school

“Science has no borders,” Arup Neogi, an India-born scientist who works at a US-sanctioned university, told Chinese state media.

Neogi’s speciality is photonics, the study of generating, controlling and detecting light. At the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in the southwestern city of Chengdu, he leads a team exploring the interconnection between light and sound.

This university has one of China’s top electronics and communication programmes and has been on the US “Entity List” since 2012. Inclusion on the list subjected the university to sanctions on academic exchanges and technology procurement.

The university was added to the list because it was accused of acting as a proxy for the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, which had previously been sanctioned over its role in China’s nuclear programme.