Are foreign scientists good for the US scientific workforce?
Many in the scientific community have expressed concerns that post-9/11 delays in visa processing are deterring foreign students and scientists from studying or working in the United States (see the April 2004 Washington Watch column, BioScience 54: 296). Yet few have discussed the larger question: Just what is–or should be–the role of foreign scholars in US science? The National Academy of Sciences seeks to answer that question in a study currently entitled “Policy Implications of International Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars in the United States,” scheduled for release in April 2005. As the committee in charge of the study is finding, the issue affects more than the international exchange of ideas; it influences the dynamics of the US domestic…
