Kansas State University

Foreign talent recruitment warning

Submitted by Office of the Vice President for Research

Multiple K-State faculty and staff members have received emails inviting recipients to apply for a Foreign Talent Recruitment Program, or FTRP. In some cases, these emails went directly into junk or clutter folders, but others have been received in primary inbox folders.

The University Research Compliance Office and Office of the Vice President for Research have identified two concerns regarding the emails:

1. These emails are likely phishing scams that use the process of requesting your academic qualifications to also obtain personal data used to harm you financially or in other ways.
2. If these emails are determined to be legitimate, the country of origin, China, likely qualifies their FTRP as a malign program. Members of Malign FTRPs are prohibited from receiving federal research awards, according to the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.

If you receive an email of this nature, do not respond.

If you have any questions about FTRPs or malign FTRPs, you can find information on the University Research Compliance Office website. Also, please contact Jonathan Snowden, research security officer, at jonathansnowden@k-state.edu or 785-532-3261, or Lisa Brummett, export control officer, at lmbrumme@k-state.edu or 785-532-3224 if you are comfortable discussing the email or if you have any questions.