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GRADUATE STUDENT/ POSTDOCTORAL INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE 195 



Postdoctoral Fellowships 



NSF Postdoctoral Fellowships. For young scientists primarily mo- 

 tivated toward academic and research careers at the frontiers of 

 knowledge, postdoctoral fellowships and research associations in cen- 

 ters of excellence are a logical next step after completing their doctor- 

 ates. Such movement to European centers was very much the case for 

 young Americans in the decades prior to World War II, and this lively 

 mobility continued in the 1950s, facilitated by the GI Bill, and Ful- 

 bright grants, as well as invaluable support from private foundations. 

 However, it took the Sputnik tremor to move NSF into supporting a 

 significant and highly effective postdoctoral program beginning in the 

 1958-1959 academic year. Some 120-245 NSF postdoctoral grants 

 were awarded per year in the ensuing 13 years to 1971, with between 

 one-third and three-fifths of these fellows pursuing training and ad- 

 vanced research in foreign institutions, primarily in Western Europe 

 (see Figure 2 and Table 2). These were the halcyon days of U.S. science 

 and technology. Advancements in space, medicine, communications, 

 security, and most fields were increasingly centered around U.S. insti- 

 tutions and the leadership of U.S. engineers and managers of technol- 

 ogy. We should recall the so-called "technology gap" of the late 1960s 

 and the concern of our European and Japanese colleagues that they 

 might never catch up. Still, the traditional and newly emerging intel- 

 lectual centers of scientific excellence in Europe and Japan were read- 

 ily recognized and sought out by leading American scientists and post- 

 doctoral fellows. 



But, for a complex of reasons— perhaps an exaggerated sense of 

 confidence and self-sufficiency as well as serious questioning of the 

 NSF role in supporting science education, and, furthermore, expecta- 

 tions that other sources might fill the gap— the NSF ended its broad 

 postdoctoral fellowship program in 1972. The foundation then went 

 through a mixed period (1975-1981) of supporting much smaller spe- 

 cialized postdoctoral fellowship programs designated as related to 

 "energy," "national needs," or simply as "postdoctoral." The percent- 

 age of persons attending foreign institutions was much smaller. Since 

 FY 1982 this program has been at zero level. It should be noted that a 

 modest specialized exchange program of postdoctoral and senior-level 

 scientists (10-15 each way) has been supported since 1970 under a 

 U.S. -France Bilateral Agreement. More recently, even more restricted 

 research (postdoctoral) fellowship programs have been initiated in the 

 fields of plant biology and mathematical sciences, the latter restricted 

 to U.S. institutions. This history certainly raises questions concerning 



