HONOLULU -- A respected university professor pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to being an Internet sexual predator.

An undercover officer pretending to be a 15-year-old girl, authorities said, caught the engineering researcher.

"It seems that intelligence and wisdom don't always go hand in hand," Deputy Attorney General Albert Cook said.

Professor Marc Fossorier began chatting online with the undercover agent in April, telling the fake 15-year-old he was 35, according to court documents. He is actually 43.

He claimed he only intended help the girl.

Investigators said he specifically mentioned sex acts he planned with her.

"The defendant contacted them in the chat room, had a number of sexually explicit chats and ended up arranging a meeting for sex," Cook said.

At the UH College of Engineering students watched Internet reports and were disturbed.

Jordan Torres was a student in Fossorier's electrical engineering class. Fossorier was highly respected, wrote textbooks and won national awards for his research.

Students said they will miss his teaching.

"I was afraid it might -- it'll probably hold me back, but we'll see what happens," Torres said.

Women students said they would now be uncomfortable with Fossorier if he came back. None would be interviewed. Others were not judgmental.

"People do weird things. It doesn't matter how smart you are, what character you are, it's just human," engineering student David Kim said.

University officials said the school will suspend the professor with pay while the case is pending and he will do a year in prison if he is convicted. Firing is not automatic, although he will be fired if sent to prison for that long, officials said.