University of Illinois has no Record of Fu Ping's Director Position or Mosaic Involvement

In responding to an FOIA request, University of Illinois recently disclosed that they have no records that Fu Ping was ever a Director of Visualization at NCSA and that she initiated the Mosaic browser development. The former was included in the school's own award citation on Fu Ping. The latter was, of course, well known because of Fu Ping's numerous interviews on the subject.

Previously, the school has released employment records of Fu Ping at NCSA, which showed that she was only a programmer there when Mosaic was developed and a manager later.

From: University of Illinois FOIA Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2013 3:01 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: University of Illinois FOIA Subject: FOIA Response (13-357)
 August 7, 2013 [REDACTED] Re: FOIA 13-357  Dear Mr. xxxx: I am responding to your letter received in our office on July 31 under the Freedom of Information Act in which you request: "a copy of the following records (documentation in published, unpublished, machine-readable, and audiovisual forms, including correspondence such as printed letters as well as emails): 1.     Records, if any, that Ping Fu was a Director of Visualization of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications;2.     Records, if any, that Ping Fu initiated the NCSA Mosaic software project;3.     Records, if any, that Ping Fu managed the MCSA Mosaic software project;
4.     Records, if any, that Ping Fu’s work product led to Netscape; and5.     Records, if any, that Ping Fu’s work product led to Internet Explorer. The records, if any, responsive to this FOIA request should be located in Ping Fu’s research and project files at NCSA. These include research and project proposals, funding applications, financial and budget records, research data, reports, and correspondence."
 A search was conducted and no records pertaining to your request could be located.  You have a right, under the law, to seek a review of this response by the Public Access Counselor (PAC) in the Office of the Attorney General. The PAC may be reached by phone at 217-782-1396, by email to publicaccess@atg.state.il.us, or by postal mail at the Public Access Bureau, 500 S. 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62706. You also have the right to seek judicial review under section 11 of this Act.  If you have questions for our office, please contact 217-333-6400. Sincerely,   Thomas P. HardyExecutive Director
and Chief Records Officer   cc:  filelegal counsel  

Document: University of Illinois' 2012 Award for Fu Ping

Fu Ping was a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Department of Computer Science of University of Illinois in 2012. The biographic sketch on her included the following paragraph on their award web site:

Before starting Geomagic in 1997, Fu was the director of visualization at NCSA, the University of Illinois supercomputing center, where she supervised work on Mosaic, the world’s first practical web browser. Her team also developed new geometry algorithms that enabled the morphing special effects for the robot villain in the movie Terminator 2.

Upon a recent inquiry, however, the school indicated that they could not find any records pertaining Fu Ping being a director at NCSA or her involvement in the Mosaic project.

Previously, the school has released employment records of Fu Ping at NCSA, which showed that she was only a programmer there when Mosaic was developed and a manager later.

Document: UCSD Could not Confirm Fu Ping's TA Experience

Fu Ping's resume at University of Illinois claimed that she held Teaching Assistant positions from both University of New Mexico and University of California, San Diego when she studied there. This appears unlikely as she was an undergraduate student in those two schools.

UNM has already officially refuted her claim. UCSD, however, could not confirm or deny her claim as the school did not retain their employee files beyond 5 years.

Document: Fu Ping's Resume for her NSF Grant Applications (1999 version)

NSF has located more versions of Fu Ping's resume in her application file. Below is a version used around 1999, when she was the Chief Technical Officer of Raindrop Geomagic. For most part, this version is similar to that of 1997 with her work title and experience updated.

She also added an "Awards" section to her resume. Remarkably, however, this version of her resume lists her degree from Suzhou University as "MA" instead of "BA" as in the past. It might be a simple case of typo though.

Document: Fu Ping's Resume for her NSF Grant Application (1997 version)

NSF has located more versions of Fu Ping's resume in her application file. Besides the one submitted in early 1990s, below is a version used around 1997, when she was CEO & President of Raindrop Geomagic. This version no longer lists a Lecturer position as work experience or a translated children's book as publication, but still lists a BA from Suzhou University as her educational credential.

She also included a new "Senior Consultant" position at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the academic year of 1995-1996.

For her work at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, she described it as "initiated and helped to design NCSA Mosaic internet browser software."

Document: UNM Denies that Fu Ping had been a TA in that School

When Fu Ping submitted her resume to University of Illinois in 1991, she included being "Teaching Assistant, University of New Mexico (1985 - 1986)" as part of her "Work Experience."

University of New Mexico has now officially refuted her claim:

Document: Fu Ping's Resume at University of Illinois

Responding to an Freedom of Information Act request, University of Illinois has released a copy of resume Fu Ping submitted when she applied for a job at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications job in 1991.

This version of her resume predated the one that she submitted for her NSF grant application. The content is similar however. Besides missing some of the latter events, this version also claimed that she had a BA degree from Suzhou University, which has been proven to be false. She did not list her translated children's story book as publication in this one, but listed "Teaching Assistant" and "Research Assistant" at University of New Mexico and University of San Diego (should be UCSD instead, which she did attend) as past experiences.

While it is common for graduate students to work as TA and/or RA during their studies, Fu Ping was actually an undergraduate student in both UNM and UCSD. It would be highly unusual for her to have such work experiences in those schools.

UPDATE (7/30/2013): UNM has officially refuted Fu Ping's TA claim.
UPDATE (8/4/2012): UCSD could not confirm or deny Fu Ping's TA claim.

Document: Fu Ping's Resume for her NSF Grant Applications

Albert Wang has obtained, through the Freedom of Information Act, a copy of Fu Ping's resume included in her applications for National Science Foundation grants.

As we can see in this copy, Fu Ping has made claims that

1. She had earned a BA of Chinese Literature from Suzhou University in 1982, which she has since admitted to be incorrect but has blamed others for the mistake.
2. She served as a Lecturer at Nanjing Aeronautical Institute from 1982 to 1983, a period that she had claimed to be under house arrest while waiting to be deported following her research of female infanticide.
3. She had a publication titled Two Minutes Stories, in China in 1988, when in fact that was a book of children's stories she translated from its English version.

Document: Nanjing University's Certificate on Fu Ping

A book and several web sites have/had identified Fu Ping as having a Ph.D. in Chinese literature from Nanjing University. This is of course incorrect since Fu Ping had never attended the school. Fu Ping has attributed the error to "automated internet search."

Just to be certain, Jim at Amazon made an inquiry to Nanjing University earlier this year and received an official certificate from the school:

Translation:

Certification 

This is to certify that the Archives Office at Nanjing University has performed a search through our permanent files of undergraduate student records, graduate degree reviews, as well as equivalency to graduate studies records and found no record for any student named Fu Ping. 

Archives Office, Nanjing University (Seal) 

6/18/2013

Fu Ping's Interview with a Chinese Newspaper in USA

On July 3, 2013, Fu Ping was interviewed by Qiaobao, a Chinese language newspaper published in the USA, in which she answered some questions raised by her alma mater Suzhou University. The interview is originally in Chinese.

Qiaobao: Suzhou University accused you for falsifying academic credentials. They displayed your student registration and files at the school and proved that you had dropped out in March, 1982 and did not earn any degree there. Have you ever publicly stated that you have a Bachelor degree in Chinese Language and Literature from Suzhou University? 

Fu Ping: I rarely mentioned Suzhou University because I didn't obtain any degree there. In my social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc., I never included Suzhou University. In fact, in all places I have control, I never mention Suzhou University. 

But there are places that I have no control of. About 10 years ago, our company's marketing department has a girl from Malaysia. I told her that I did not graduate from Suzhou University. So she wrote on our page "post graduate degree." Because she thought "post graduate degree" could also mean "non degree" besides "masters graduate student." We made corrections right away and it was not on our company web site. But recently when our company changed web site, an program that was automatically fetching files made it visible again. I did not discover it in time. 

Right now there are many web sites, including Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, etc., all carried this incorrect information. I found out later that it was because their automated search feature. The real culprit of this academic credentials fraud is the automated search, not me. 

In fact, my business is in computers. I earned BS and MS in computer science in the US. I do not need a degree from Suzhou University for any of my work. It's not like a degree from Harvard, after all. 

Someone said that they obtained information from University of Illinois where I had worked to prove that I had claimed of possessing a degree from Suzhou University. But the information I do possess do not prove that. I have also inquired to University of Illinois. They told me that they have never told anyone that I had a degree from Suzhou University. I feel that those who are attacking me were misled. [Note: we do have evidence indicating otherwise.] 

Another place is a technological paper I wrote as the third author. The author's bio section of this paper stated that I earned a Bachelor of Chinese Language and Literature in 1983. As a matter of fact, I did not write that. I only published a technological paper. The author's bio was added by editors. 

Qiaobao: In your book, you said that in the fall of 1982, you "innocently walked across campus making preparations for graduation, someone sneaked up behind me, jammed a black canvas bag over my head ... escorted into a nearby car." Since you had already dropped out school that March, why were you walking on campus in the fall? 

Fu: This is a typo. If you read the whole passage, all the stories happened in the spring. The fall only occurred in this sentence. It was an error. 

In fact, I have corrected it as soon as I found this mistake. 

Qiaobao: You also mentioned in your memoir that you published a paper while you were in school, on the subject of female infanticide under the one-child policy. You were arrested and deported because of it. But Suzhou University said that all the graduation thesis in the Department of Chinese Literature were about literature or linguistics. They wouldn't be involved in sociology subjects such as infanticide. There were no teacher for this thesis of yours. How do you respond? 

Fu: Before graduation, I wanted to go to graduate school in journalism at Nanjing University. So I intended my thesis to be like a news report. In 1981, the one-child policy was going crazy in China and got my interest. With the permission from my adviser, I started interviewing people and then discovered the female infanticide problem in rural China. 

I heard a lot of stories from rural women and became their sounding board. In order to do this work, I had indeed spent a lot of time and missed a lot of classes. 

Then I wrote them down and showed my teacher. My teacher passed my article to his friend in Shanghai's Wenhui Daily. At that time I did not know where this paper reached, but heard later that it was handed higher and higher in the official hierarchy and reached the Party Central. 

This was not good news for the new leadership. Therefore I was arrested and locked up for 3 days. After the release, the police told me to leave Suzhou University and not tell anyone the reason. That's why my mother and I were insistent in dropping out of the school. 

Qiaobao: Who is the teacher who allowed you to write this article? 

Fu: It's not just one, but I cannot provide names. In fact, the person who approved my work no longer admits that. I don't think it's necessary to expose this. They are all my teachers and classmates. If they want to say I am lying, then let them say that. I know who I am and don't want to explain. 

Qiaobao: In your book you said that you experienced "finger checking" for pregnancy. This was strongly condemned by Suzhou University and your classmates. What happened there? 

Fu:  This is indeed my mistake. I wrote about "finger checking" to illustrate the difference between China's one-child policy and the population policy in the west. In 1981, getting pregnant in China could be illegal. Therefore there was checking with fingers. But the procedure was using one's own fingers to prove period, not allowing other people's fingers to enter. 

I told my coauthor Meimei Fox of this concept. But she did not write accurately. The illegal pregnancy checking was subjecting to those who have already given birth, not all females. It was written in the book as for all women, but not students of Suzhou University. 

But Chinese are not a precise language. It could be interpreted in different ways when viewed from different angles. It read like all female students in Suzhou University must submit to the checking. I discovered it later and corrected it on New York Times.
I feel sorry for this. I did not spot this mistake before the book went to press. Later Fang Zhouzi hyped on it and wrote it in a very dirty way. If this hurt the dignity of students in Suzhou University, I am willing to apologize. 

But the "finger checking" absolutely happened. It was not just me. Other articles have mentioned it too. I wrote it because I hope to raise the outside world's awareness of China's one-child policy. It was not meant to insult female students in Suzhou University. 

Qiaobao: You had participated in a literature organization called Red Maple Society. You said in the book that you were arrested and interrogated because an article published by the society. Suzhou University said that was a lie. What do you think? 

Fu: I had indeed not been taken into custody because of Red Maple Society. But in my book I used the word "arrest," which could mean "taking into custody" or "detain," it could also be understood as "stop." It was not as going into prison, but that they don't allow you to attend classes. They put several of you into a room, make you write confessions and expose each other. 

The Department of Chinese Literature had a student journal called Wu Gou. According to my memory, I was the editor-in-chief (主编) for Wu Gou, but not the ultimate decision maker (总编). Because I was the only girl in the society and the journal, they let me be the editor-in-chief, in charge of printing and logistics. Now some people say I wasn't the editor-in-chief. If they could tell me who was, I would like to correct that.
In January, 1979, Wu Gou published the article "The Confession of a Communist Party Member" by Liu Buchun. The article raised doubts on Communist Party and Communism. 

At that same time, Peking University, Tsinghua University and other 11 colleges co-founded the magazine This Generation. They reprinted an article from Wu Gou. Our journal sent a representative to Beijing to attend a meeting by This Generation. I don't remember who went, but it wasn't me. 

After arriving at Beijing, he didn't attend the meeting but went to the Great Hall of People to watch Deng Xiaoping receiving leaders of the Communist Youth League. There, Deng Xiaoping clearly stated that he wouldn't allow universities publish their underground journals. Afterwords, This Generation and Wu Gou all closed down. The school investigated and interrogated us. The Red Maple Society could not meet any more.

Document: University of Illinois Letter on Fu Ping's Credential

In early February, 2013, Daily Kos' xgz made an inquiry to University of Illinois where Fu Ping had earned an MS degree in computer science. The response showed that the school believes Fu Ping had previously earned a BA degree from Suzhou University.

The following email was forwarded to xgz by Keely K Ashman of UIUC:

-----Original Message-----
From: Kelley, Mary Beth A
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 1:48 PM
To: Ashman, Keely K
Subject: RE: Inquiry about Ms. Ping Fu's MS degree 

Hi Keely 

We had a student by that name graduate with an MS from UIUC May 1990 and her Advisor was Jane Liu.  She also obtained a BA in Computer Science & Economics from the University of CA, San Diego in 1988 and a BA in Literature from Shuzou University-China in 1982.  Her original application file indicated she attended the University of New Mexico from 1984 to 1986, but no degree was awarded.  It appears her wiki page is missing some information. 

Mary Beth

-----Original Message-----
From: Ashman, Keely K
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 1:25 PM
To: Kelley, Mary Beth A
Subject: FW: Inquiry about Ms. Ping Fu's MS degree 

Mary Beth, 

Hi! How are you? I need to come over for a visit sometime soon so we can catch up!
Weird question, who would be able to find out if the student below graduated in 1988 with CS degree? Thanks! 

Keely K Ashman
Recruiting Assistant
Engineering Career Services
3275 Digital Computer Lab
1304 W. Springfield Ave.
Urbana, Il 61801
217-333-6454
kashman@illinois.edu

Broken Fact: Fu Ping's Mysterious Academic Degress

The Original Story:
This one is mysterious because it is not in the book Bend, Not Break, nor has Fu Ping spoken about it herself, publicly anyway. But at least two sources have described Fu Ping has a Ph.D. in Chinese Literature.

One is the book How the Web was Born by James Gillies and Robert Cailiau, Oxford University Press, 2000. On Page 237, while describing the birth of the Mosaic browser, it says:

Ping Fu had an eclectic mixture of talents: a Ph.D. in Chinese literature and a flair for scientific visualization projects on computers.

Fu Ping was interviewed for the book, but it is not clear whether she was the source of the above.

Another is the Executive Profile provided by Businessweek, which states:

Ms. Fu holds MS and BS degrees in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has PhD in Chinese literature from Nanjing University, China, and an MA in Chinese literature from Suzhou University, China.

Businessweek cited no sources.

(Update 7/11/2013: Businessweek web site has now been updated with both of her PhD and MA degrees above removed.)

The Debunking:
Perhaps due to the necessity of presenting a case for deportation, the book Bend, Not Break has been very vague on the timeline before Fu Ping's departure from China. So much so that Forbes' Jenna Goudreau discovered it as a "gap" in her timeline. In her own clarification, Fu Ping did mention her plan for attending graduate school in Nanjing:

I originally had been planning to go to graduate school to study comparative literature in Nanjing, but that could not happen due to the circumstances. 

So, she did not attend the graduate school and, even if she did (as reported in a 2009 story in Chinese media), she would not have had enough time to earn a Ph.D.

Businessweek's profile contains multiple errors as Fu Ping did not have MA from Suzhou University either, or BS from Illinois.

Where did James Gillies, Robert Cailiau, and Businessweek get this erroneous information?

Fu Ping's Explanation:
In late June and early July of 2013, Fu Ping attributed the problem with her academic credentials to "automatic internet search." She told South China Morning Post:

In the book I wrote exactly what the fact is: I don’t have a degree from Suzhou [Soochow University], there is no contradiction. I have a MS and BA in the USA. On my social network sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, I only list my two US degrees, which are both in Computer Science. My understanding is that when other publications post my profile on their websites, they may run an automatic Internet search, which presents degrees from other people with the same name as mine, Ping Fu, and these peoples’ degrees get attached to my name. I found many instances of this, even on very reputable sites such as those of Bloomberg Businessweek, the Wall Street Journal, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 

and Qiaobao:

But there are places that I have no control of. About 10 years ago, our company's marketing department has a girl from Malaysia. I told her that I did not graduate from Suzhou University. So she wrote on our page "post graduate degree." Because she thought "post graduate degree" could also mean "non degree" besides "masters graduate student." We made corrections right away and it was not on our company web site. But recently when our company changed web site, an program that was automatically fetching files made it visible again. I did not discover it in time.  

Right now there are many web sites, including Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, etc., all carried this incorrect information. I found out later that it was because their automated search feature. The real culprit of this academic credentials fraud is the automated search, not me.