LINDA RABER

Today's graduate students in the chemical sciences face a unique set of opportunities in a field that is becoming more interdisciplinary and whose horizons seem endless. Some also face daunting challenges. In this special report on graduate education and beyond, C&EN explores some of the exciting, confounding, and sometimes controversial aspects of graduate education.

PHOTODISC

Associate Editor Amanda Yarnell tackles the perennial question for many chemistry graduate students: Does it really matter where you go to grad school? She focuses on those students preparing for a career in academia and takes another look at the statistical arguments that have roiled the chemistry community and have been published in the pages of C&EN.

Graduate students from other countries are experiencing new hardships in the U.S. of post-Sept. 11, 2001. According to Editorial Assistant Victoria Gilman, new visa requirements meant to improve national security are creating delays that could harm global science education. She examines some case studies and describes approaches being used to help hasten visa approvals for these students.

Most new Ph.D.s head for jobs in industry or government, but a lot are also looking for positions in academe. And although many are confident that their research skills are honed, most are unprepared to assume the important role of teacher. Assistant Editor Rachel Sheremeta Pepling takes a look at several inventive programs that focus on preparing graduate students in the chemical sciences for their jobs as chemistry's future faculty.

After graduate school, many newly minted Ph.D.s head for postdoctoral appointments, most of them in academic settings. Associate Editor Corinne Marasco tells readers about another kind of postdoc experience: a postdoc in industry. These nontraditional postdocs are hard to find but can be very rewarding for some scientists.