A computer engineering professor is resigning from the University of Florida amid the university s investigation into the 2019 suicide of one of his graduate students, Huixiang Chen.
Tao Li s last day is May 15, according to documents in his personnel file received by The Sun. He was first hired at UF as an assistant professor in 2004 and has been on paid administrative leave since Feb. 15.
Li s resignation letter was sent April 10 and accepted April 13, and he will remain on leave until his last day, said Hessy Fernandez, a UF spokeswoman. He is paid $153,239 annually by the university.
The four-sentence-long notice including Li s signature does not mention Chen s death or the ongoing investigation but merely states his end date and wishes all the best to the UF Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.