Amid escalating US-China tensions, senior scientist Yi Shouliang, formerly with the US Department of Energy, has left the U.S. to assume a new academic role at Sichuan University in China, according to a media report on Friday.

What Happened: Yi recently departed the US after a short tenure as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh, as reported by the South China Morning Post. He also dissolved his commercial ventures in the country.

Earlier, Shouliang served as a principal scientist and project leader at the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), where he focused on the Water-Energy Programme.

He has now accepted a new role at Sichuan University in China. Shouliang’s move comes at a time of increasing US-China tensions.

The reasons for his departure have not been disclosed. Currently, his name only appears in one patent filing and project proposals.

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At Sichuan University, Yi’s research includes advanced separation technologies and engineering. The lab also conducts exploratory research on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

These technologies are applied to high-performance membrane materials, porous functional materials, carbon capture and conversion, energy storage and gas separation, and ion-selective separation.

According to Sichuan University’s official website, Yi holds multiple titles, including Hai Na Distinguished Professor, doctoral supervisor, and head of the Green Low-Carbon Separation Technology and CCUS Innovation Team.

He is also a recipient of the National Overseas High-Level Talent Programme, previously known as the ‘Thousand Talents Plan’.

Why It Matters: Shouliang’s move to China is part of a larger trend of top scientists leaving the US for China. This trend has been fueled by China’s revival of the “Thousand Talents Plan” (TTP), a program aimed at attracting top scientists to accelerate its semiconductor industry.

Another notable departure was that of acclaimed Japanese mathematician Kenji Fukaya, who left his post in the United States to take up a full-time professorship at China's Tsinghua University.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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