An investigation found that Harvard University’s CAMLab (formerly Chinese Arts Media Lab; now Cognitive Aesthetics Media Lab), founded by 
-born professor Eugene Wang (汪悦进), has in recent years used its exchange program to squeeze funds from eager foreign students, while also seeking to advance donors’ interests, often with little oversight from university leadership. A review of internal chat messages and interviews with five former lab workers suggests the lab serves as a side door into the US for well-heeled Chinese students eager to obtain the imprimatur of one of the country’s most prestigious universities.
Some findings:
* Jie Lu (陆洁), Wang’s wife, a volunteer with no Harvard affiliation, has directed highly sensitive — and occasionally mundane — projects at the lab. Records show she helped identify candidates for the visa program and often sat in on interviews, while flagging which applicants could skip the interview process.
* A Chinese company run by the mother of the lab’s cofounder and two lab volunteers served as a contractor for the lab in China, coordinating events and more. In another case, the lab gave the daughter of an eventual donor a job.
* Some international scholars spent little time on campus, despite their visas requiring on-site attendance. One scholar was essentially part time, while others spent just a quarter of the yearlong stint in the US. Another was based in Connecticut.
State Department’s Office of Private Sector Exchange Program recently opened an inquiry into the lab’s visitor visa program following a whistle-blower complaint from a former employee — Yiyi Liang, who said she felt the lab “operates as a shadow system, leveraging Harvard’s global brand and the regulatory gaps between the US and China to construct what is essentially a private empire.”
Donations to CAMLab sometimes appeared to come with strings attached. Former employees recalled that a future donor’s daughter was given a key role at the CAMLab and that people who knew Wang or his wife were brought in as scholars or interns.
Wang acknowledged hiring a donor’s daughter in 2018 but said it had nothing to do with fund-raising. He said she was a qualified candidate and her family weren’t donors at the time.
Wang said CAMLab’s contract with Kaimu Culture Technology Co Ltd, an art and design production firm, followed normal vendor procedures. The company is run by the mother of CAMLab’s current cofounder and a volunteer listed as a lab project manager. Wang said neither he nor the lab received any financial benefit from the relationship, and the lab has no current contracts with the company.
The role Wang’s wife, Jie Lu, played at the lab also raised eyebrows.
Her LinkedIn profile describes her as an executive at Morgan Stanley and CAMLab’s website lists her as the chair of its 3-person volunteer advisory board.
The two other members include the founder of a private equity firm who specializes in financial planning for wealthy families, and a Boston-based executive for a Chinese oil company who previously hosted a children’s program for China’s national television broadcaster.
The extent of Lu’s involvement in CAMLab was unusual at Harvard.
Dozens of internal messages show Lu pushed to give leadership credit on the lab’s website to a well-connected intern, a practice that raised concerns among other employees.
On at least four occasions in 2024, Lu suggested candidates for the visiting scholar program, even identifying which ones could skip the interview process. Lu led interviews, and after one vetting session told staff “we decided to accept only two students,” including one who could only be on campus for three months.
On its Harvard website, the lab has distanced itself from its Chinese origins, billing itself officially now as the Cognitive Aesthetics Media Lab.
On RedNote / Xiaohongshu, its official account remains Harvard University Chinese Art Media Lab.
bostonglobe.com/2025/11/07/met
-born professor Eugene Wang (汪悦进), has in recent years used its exchange program to squeeze funds from eager foreign students, while also seeking to advance donors’ interests, often with little oversight from university leadership. A review of internal chat messages and interviews with five former lab workers suggests the lab serves as a side door into the US for well-heeled Chinese students eager to obtain the imprimatur of one of the country’s most prestigious universities.
Some findings:
* Jie Lu (陆洁), Wang’s wife, a volunteer with no Harvard affiliation, has directed highly sensitive — and occasionally mundane — projects at the lab. Records show she helped identify candidates for the visa program and often sat in on interviews, while flagging which applicants could skip the interview process.
* A Chinese company run by the mother of the lab’s cofounder and two lab volunteers served as a contractor for the lab in China, coordinating events and more. In another case, the lab gave the daughter of an eventual donor a job.
* Some international scholars spent little time on campus, despite their visas requiring on-site attendance. One scholar was essentially part time, while others spent just a quarter of the yearlong stint in the US. Another was based in Connecticut.
State Department’s Office of Private Sector Exchange Program recently opened an inquiry into the lab’s visitor visa program following a whistle-blower complaint from a former employee — Yiyi Liang, who said she felt the lab “operates as a shadow system, leveraging Harvard’s global brand and the regulatory gaps between the US and China to construct what is essentially a private empire.”
Donations to CAMLab sometimes appeared to come with strings attached. Former employees recalled that a future donor’s daughter was given a key role at the CAMLab and that people who knew Wang or his wife were brought in as scholars or interns.
Wang acknowledged hiring a donor’s daughter in 2018 but said it had nothing to do with fund-raising. He said she was a qualified candidate and her family weren’t donors at the time.
Wang said CAMLab’s contract with Kaimu Culture Technology Co Ltd, an art and design production firm, followed normal vendor procedures. The company is run by the mother of CAMLab’s current cofounder and a volunteer listed as a lab project manager. Wang said neither he nor the lab received any financial benefit from the relationship, and the lab has no current contracts with the company.
The role Wang’s wife, Jie Lu, played at the lab also raised eyebrows.
Her LinkedIn profile describes her as an executive at Morgan Stanley and CAMLab’s website lists her as the chair of its 3-person volunteer advisory board.
The two other members include the founder of a private equity firm who specializes in financial planning for wealthy families, and a Boston-based executive for a Chinese oil company who previously hosted a children’s program for China’s national television broadcaster.
The extent of Lu’s involvement in CAMLab was unusual at Harvard.
Dozens of internal messages show Lu pushed to give leadership credit on the lab’s website to a well-connected intern, a practice that raised concerns among other employees.
On at least four occasions in 2024, Lu suggested candidates for the visiting scholar program, even identifying which ones could skip the interview process. Lu led interviews, and after one vetting session told staff “we decided to accept only two students,” including one who could only be on campus for three months.
On its Harvard website, the lab has distanced itself from its Chinese origins, billing itself officially now as the Cognitive Aesthetics Media Lab.
On RedNote / Xiaohongshu, its official account remains Harvard University Chinese Art Media Lab.
bostonglobe.com/2025/11/07/met