More that three years after Sept. 11, 2001, researchers and scholars who wish to come to America to study, conduct research, or attend scientific meetings are still feeling the reverberations of that day. Immigration restrictions may be having a chilling effect on science and could be causing prospective US-bound scholars to go to other nations to study and work.
One university that's feeling the pinch is University of California, Berkeley, where 56% of the 1,860 postdocs come from overseas, says Sam Castaneda, director of visiting scholar and postdoc affairs for the university. That's a larger proportion than at any of the other University of California campuses, he says.
With so many potential trip-ups, faculty members are told to begin recruiting for postdocs at least six months in advance of a vacancy, Castaneda says. In the postdoc world, "it's almost unheard of" to do that much advance planning, but he adds ...
