Working group looks at immigration’s impact on chemistry

Abstract

In 2016, the ACS Committee on Economic & Professional Affairs (CEPA) chartered a cross-committee working group on immigration and work visas in the U.S. to determine if the American Chemical Society should develop a policy position focused on these topics. Susan Butts, the chair of this working group, provides an update on its progress below. The remainder of this comment is an independent update written by Susan, and the views she expresses are entirely that of the working group. Immigration. It is a topic we often hear about in the news, but the focus is usually on terrorism or immigrants who enter a country illegally. How does immigration affect the chemistry community in the U.S.? Has it contributed to the quality of scientific research and the vitality of the economy, or has it created unfair competition for students and workers? The CEPA-chartered working group on immigration and work visas, which