Subsequently, a UC Irvine police investigation was sent to the DA’s office. That probe led to Suda paying a $14,000 settlement in 2011 with the California Fair Political Practices Commission - which in addition to its role as a political watchdog also monitors professor conflict issues at the UC and Cal State systems. National Science Foundation in Virginia, putting him at a pinnacle of such research.īut after a whistleblower complaint in 2009, a UC Irvine investigation found that their coveted faculty member was engaging in covert relationships with major Japanese firms, which also funded some of his research projects. For three years ending in 1999, he directed a computer network division at the U.S. He was considered a world leader in computer architecture research and credited with the first scientific article proposing the use of biological molecules in computer systems. Suda’s conviction is the culmination of a stunning fall from grace for a scientist who had enjoyed a stellar career in both Japan and the U.S. Though he retired in 2010 soon after state authorities launched an investigation of him for conflicts of interest, Suda’s UC Irvine connections weren’t completely severed until January last year. Details about any inappropriate transfer of technology weren’t available, because they were part of a confidential settlement between Suda and UC Irvine.Ī longtime faculty member with full tenure in UC Irvine’s Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, Suda is the first UC professor criminally convicted of conflict of interest involving research funding, according to state officials. He had spent several months in county jail after his arrest in late 2012.Ī native of Japan who is not a United States citizen, Suda also could face deportation for the conviction, although authorities said that might not occur because the offense wasn’t serious enough.Īdditionally, UC Irvine reportedly recovered some rights to patents and associated royalties that were uncovered during the university’s internal investigation, which dated to 2009. Support Voice of OC Today.īy making the plea, Suda avoided a maximum sentence of three years incarceration.

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