In January 2021, Chen was charged by the United States Department of Justice under the now abolished China Initiative, for allegedly failing to disclose connections to several Chinese educational programs when submitting a federal grant application.
[9] His arrest prompted protests by other academics including MIT's then president Leo Rafael Reif and editorials in the scientific press over the United States government targeting of Chinese American professors.
[18] In 2022, Chen and a team of colleagues discovered that cubic boron arsenide is a highly effective semiconductor, a discovery with potentially important applications in electronics.
In 2010, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to heat transfer at the nanoscale and to thermoelectric energy conversion technology.
The charge of wire fraud was based on alleged omissions from federal grant proposal form (Current and pending support) that was submitted electronically.
"[27][30] An opinion article in Bloomberg remarked: "Ever since the Nazis drove Europe’s greatest minds into exile, U.S. science has flourished by attracting talent from overseas.
"[32] On January 14, 2022, the Wall Street Journal reported that federal prosecutors had recommended dropping the criminal charges against Professor Chen.
[12] The same day, The Washington Post reported that the DOE forms had not required Chen to disclose his connections to Chinese educational programs, undercutting the basis of the federal charges.