The FBI searched homes in Bloomington and Carmel belonging to an IU professor and an IU Libraries analyst Friday. The agency declined to comment on the nature of the search.
An IU spokesperson did not say whether the professor, Xiaofeng Wang at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, was still employed at the university — and referred the Indiana Daily Student to the FBI for information. However, Wang does show up on IU’s scheduler for the Fall 2025 semester for graduate independent study.
“The FBI conducted court authorized law enforcement activity at the home on Xavier Court in Bloomington Friday,” FBI spokesperson Chris Bavender said over a text message. “It was related to the FBI activity at the home in Carmel. We have no further comment at this time.”
Both homes are listed on Monroe County and Hamilton County property records as belonging to Wang and Nianli Ma. Ma is a lead systems analyst and programmer at IU Libraries, according to its website.
Neighbors told The Herald Times that agents at the scene were there for much of the day Friday. The Department of Homeland Security was present.
Wang’s profile on Luddy’s Department of Computer Science website is no longer available. However, an archived version of the webpage described him as an associate dean for research. According to the archived page, Wang had served on projects totaling nearly $23 million by 2022. He joined the university in 2004.
He’s also still listed as a director of IU’s center for Security and Privacy in Informatics, Computing, and Engineering on the organization’s webpage. According to the website, his research focuses on system security and data privacy, specializing on security issues relating to mobile and cloud computing, and human genomic data.
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