Biophysical Society Bulletin | November 2024

Public Affairs

International Postdocs Face More Challenges Than US Counterparts In 2023, the NIH put out a call for comments from current and former postdocs about the challenges they face and received a flood of responses that bore out what was antici pated: a number of concerns about salaries, cost of living, and opportunities. What may not have been anticipated was the number of these concerns raised by the international post doc population in the United States, which makes up 57% of the US postdoc population. According to a paper published in August by Research Policy , among the 2,800 academic post docs working in the United States, those holding temporary visas received lower pay and less career support and guid ance than US citizens and permanent residents, even though visa holders were more productive (Kahn, S., and MacGarvie M. 2024. New evidence on international postdocs in the US: Less pay, different experiences. Res. Policy 53: https:/doi. org/10.1016/j.respol.2024.105077). The study used data from the National Science Foundation’s Early Career Doctorates Survey, a detailed questionnaire that was administered in 2017 to academic scientists who were within 10 years of completing their PhD. This varies from other prior postdoc surveys, which largely focus on gradu ates who received their PhDs in the Unites States. Temporary residents who received their PhD abroad—35% of the total respondents—earned 6.8% less as a postdoc than did US citi zens and permanent residents, the study authors found. That difference far exceeded the gender pay gap (1.7%) observed in the same sample.

Immigration Reform Key to US Science A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, En gineering and Medicine (NASEM) is calling for immigration reform to allow more individuals with advanced degrees, a major component to US research, to remain in the country. NASEM’s report suggests that the broken US immigration system is threatening the country’s status as a global leader in research. The report calls on Congress and the White House to make it easier for immigrants earning advanced degrees in STEM fields to remain in the country. Among the recommended changes to the current laws are boosting the number of foreign-born experts in designated STEM fields who could receive a green card, removing the cap on green cards for natives of specific countries, and giving green cards to ev eryone who wants to remain in the country after earning an advanced degree from a US university. In addition to the need to retain foreign-born STEM talent, the report recommends a massive investment aimed at attracting more domestic students into STEM, an investment that will take a long-term plan to implement. Lastly, the report warns against policies restricting the flow of international talent in the name of protecting national securi ty, lest they be seen as discriminatory. Although immigration reform continues to be a lightning rod for political parti sanship, the report suggests that a balance must be struck between the recruitment of international research talent and avoiding the problems surrounding illegal immigration.

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November 2024

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