To field-test the toolbox, several members of the FASEB board of directors and Science Policy Committee conducted visits with their elected officials over the August recess. Larry J. Suva, director of the Center for Orthopaedic Research at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, did a test run in his home state and remarked, “The templates for leave-behind information and introductory remarks for setting the stage were invaluable. I was well prepared, and it showed.”

Updated Training Data

FASEB also has updated its compilation of survey data on education and employment in the biological and medical sciences.

Recent data from national surveys indicate that the number of graduate students in the biological and medical sciences continues to grow and that the postdoctoral population is also growing. However, for both graduate students and postdocs, the growth rate has slowed for temporary residents. Among postdocs, the growth rate for U.S. citizens and permanent residents now exceeds that of temporary residents for the first time since the mid-1990s.

*Howard Garrison and Kimberly McGuire of FASEB’s Office of Public Affairs also contributed to this article.

Carrie D. Wolinetz (cwolinetz@faseb.org) is director of scientific affairs and public relations for the Office of Public Affairs at FASEB.