Settling In on Campus.

UNITED States education system; GRADUATE education; IMMIGRANTS; SCIENTISTS; CULTURE

Immigrant scientists say that it can take a while to warm up to the U.S. academic climate but there are big benefits for both sides. Growing up in Pucheng, China professor Lin Wang had always wanted to be a professor. A decade later, as a tenured full professor at Georgia Tech, Wang has long since shattered that barrier. And the 10 students he has helped earn graduate degrees are testimony to his ability to function in a U.S. academic setting. But like thousands of other immigrant scientists, Wang has had to walk the extra mile to gain the acceptance of his U.S. colleagues. Although the barriers of culture and language can make assimilation a challenge, they ultimately have little impact on the research activities of immigrant scientists, says Maryland's Sergei Sukharev, a Russian-born biophysicist who came to the United States in 1987 as a postdoc.