Saying that the “future strength of the US [science and engineering] workforce is imperiled,” the National Science Board (NSB) is urging increased federal funds to support US science students and improved science teaching.

Between 1990 and 2000, the 91-page report found, the number of science and engineering jobs filled by foreign-born PhD holders in the United States grew from 24 to 38%. The NSB warned that because of “intensifying” global competition for researchers, the “US may not be able to rely on the international [science and engineering] labor market to fill unmet needs.”

The situation in biology in general is not as dire as in the other natural sciences, George Langford, professor of biological sciences at Dartmouth and chair of the NSB Committee on Education and Human Resources, told The Scientist, but “it still is an area of concern, and that is particularly true in some of the fields...

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