The following letter was sent to the MIT community today by President L. Rafael Reif.

To the members of the MIT community,

We learned early today that Professor Gang Chen, a widely respected scholar, teacher and member of our faculty since 2001, was arrested this morning on allegations of federal grant fraud.

For all of us who know Gang, this news is surprising, deeply distressing and hard to understand. Since learning of the arrest, Evelyn Wang, department head of Mechanical Engineering, has reached out to Gang’s family to offer support during this difficult time. She has also been in touch with students and colleagues in the department.

Of course, for our community, any charge of this kind is a matter of great seriousness and concern, and we underscored that in our public statement, which you may read below.

For now, I simply wanted to share this painful news. If you feel you might benefit from personal support at this time, I encourage you to reach out to our resources: for faculty, staff and postdocs and for students.

Sincerely,

L. Rafael Reif

Statement by MIT – January 14, 2021

MIT was deeply distressed by the arrest of Professor Gang Chen this morning. MIT believes the integrity of research is a fundamental responsibility, and we take seriously concerns about improper influence in U.S. research. Prof. Chen is a long-serving and highly respected member of the research community, which makes the government’s allegations against him all the more distressing. We are not able to offer any further information related to the government’s complaint at this time.