MRS Addresses Visa Delays Inhibiting Scientific Progress in the United States
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PUBLIC AFFAIRS FORUM An analysis of public policy issues and how they affect MRS members and the materials community . . .
MRS Addresses Visa Delays Inhibiting Scientific Progress in the United States Among the approximately 13,000 scientists and engineers in the Materials Research Society working toward fundamental breakthroughs in electronics, aerospace, biomedical devices, nanotechnology, power systems, advanced computation and communication technologies, and many other fields of materials science, 35% are from outside the United States. This fraction has been growing at the rate of 1% per year for the last two decades. Currently, 30%–40% of the attendees at the MRS Spring and Fall Meetings come from outside the United States, and it is clear that non-U.S. scientists and engineers play an important and valued role in the Society at all levels, from presenting papers at our meetings to serving on committees, task forces, and the Board of Directors. Well beyond their MRS activities, nonU.S. scientists, engineers, and students play a broad and important role in the advancement of science in the United States. However, the complicated interactions so critical to advances in fundamental materials research have been hindered by recently adopted visa practices intended to decrease the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. This article is written to inform both U.S. and non-U.S. members of MRS of the Society’s concerns over these issues and what MRS is doing about them. We are distressed about the impact of current visa processes on our field, and the consequences for the associated billions of dollars of high-tech enterprise and national security capability that our field generates and supports. This past summer, the MRS leadership sent a letter to George Atkinson, the science and technology advisor to U.S.
MRS BULLETIN/NOVEMBER 2004
Secretary of State Colin Powell. We elaborated on the impact non-U.S. scientists and immigrants have made on materials research and the U.S. economy. Following are the statistics and sources furnished to the State Department, cast in terms meant to urge the department to take action and remedy the current obstacles to scientific communication and exploration within U.S. borders.
We are distressed about the impact of current visa processes on our field. Due to continued diminishing support for physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering education in the United States—an unfortunate neglect that has accumulated over the course of 30 years1–3—the United States is now overwhelmingly dependent on non-U.S. scientists to contribute the breakthroughs that propel U.S. science forward. While the non-U.S.-born population makes up only 16.4% of physical scientists and engineers within the United States,4 it represents 55% of the PhD-degree recipients in engineering from U.S. universities,5 56% of the “hottest” papers in physical science and engineering fields,4 and 65% of the mostcited authors in those fields.4 Whether in Silicon Valley6 or in Austin, Texas,7 25% of all U.S. technol
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