美國或因綠卡政策搖擺流失人才

WASHINGTON — For years, United States policy makers have been debating the idea of granting green cards to foreigners with science doctorates. The cell biologist Xiao-Wei Chen, at the University of Michigan, is no longer waiting for them to decide.

華盛頓——多年來，美國的決策者一直在討論是否給擁有理工科博士學位的外國人直接發放綠卡的問題。密歇根大學(University of Michigan)的細胞生物學家陳曉偉（音譯）已不再等待他們做出決定。

Mr. Chen, whose work on cholesterol metabolism helped him win a job competition this year at the National Institutes of Health, is instead making plans to return home to China and his undergraduate institution, Peking University.

今年，陳曉偉憑藉在膽固醇代謝方面的研究在競爭中脫穎而出，獲得了在美國國家衛生研究院（National Institutes of Health，簡稱NIH）工作的機會。但陳曉偉計劃返回中國，回到他的本科學校——北京大學。

“The opportunities there might be more nourishing for young people like me to develop scientifically,” he said.

他說，“對於像我這樣的年輕人來說，那裏可能有更好的科研機會。”

Mr. Chen remains in a minority. Most top-ranked Chinese students offered jobs at American institutions after finishing doctorates still choose to stay. “He’s more the exception than the rule,” said Denis F. Simon, a professor of politics and global studies at Arizona State University who specializes in China policy.

陳曉偉依然只代表少數人。不少頂尖的中國學生在獲得博士學位後會進入美國機構工作，其中大多數人仍會選擇留在美國。亞利桑那州立大學(Arizona State University)的政治學及全球研究教授丹尼斯·F·西蒙(Denis F. Simon)表示， “他更多的是個例外，不算是普遍情況。”西蒙專門研究中國政策。

Yet Mr. Chen might also be a warning flag: As Congress debates whether to extend green-card privileges to foreign students earning doctorates in the sciences, the question may be growing moot. Top-ranking students are already finding that they can stay if they want — and many do not. The nation’s continuing disinvestment in science is making overseas options appear increasingly attractive.

然而，陳曉偉可能也是一記警鐘：儘管國會正在就是否延長給獲得理工科博士學位的外國學生優先發放綠卡的特權展開討論，但這個問題可能會變得實際意義不大。優秀的學生已經發現，如果他們想要留在美國，就能辦到，但問題是很多人並不想。美國持續縮減對科學領域的投入，使得其他國家的吸引力越來越大。

“Anybody in academe knows,” says Michael S. Teitelbaum, a Harvard University expert in the global competition for scientific talent, “the offers coming from Chinese institutions are getting more and more attractive.”

“學術界的人都知道，”哈佛大學(Harvard University)的專家邁克爾·S·泰特爾鮑姆(Michael S. Teitelbaum)說。“中國機構提供的機會愈發具有吸引力。”泰特爾鮑姆主要研究爭奪科學人才的全球競爭。

As the world grows more interconnected, says Mr. Simon, distance from the United States becomes less of an impediment to career success.

西蒙表示，隨着世界各國的聯繫變得日益緊密，與美國之間的地理距離逐漸不再是阻礙事業成功的因素。

Mr. Chen’s case gained attention in April during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with the heads of the major federal science agencies.

今年4月，主要聯邦科學機構的負責人出席了參議院撥款委員會(Senate Appropriations Committee)的聽證會。會上，陳曉偉的例子引起了關注。

The event was a call for helping the economy by investing more federal money in scientific research. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, took the opportunity to bemoan the loss of many accomplished Asian students. “What a waste, that we would bring this talent to America, train it, and then invite it to leave,” he commented.

聽證會的主旨在於呼籲聯邦政府在科研上投入更多資金，從而提振經濟。來自伊利諾伊州的民主黨參議員理查德·J·德賓(Richard J. Durbin)利用這次機會，哀嘆美國失去了大量的優秀亞洲學生。他評論道，“太浪費了，我們將人才引入美國，進行培養，然後任由他們離開。”

A bill Mr. Durbin has been promoting, backed by the Obama administration and leading lawmakers from both parties, would grant a green card, or permanent legal residency, to any foreigner who earned a doctorate in a science or engineering field at an American university and received a job offer based on it.

德賓的提案獲得了奧巴馬政府及兩黨主要議員的支持。根據該提案，在美國高等院校獲得理工科博士學位並藉此贏得工作機會的外國人，均可直接獲得綠卡，即永久居留權。

The director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis S. Collins, responded to Mr. Durbin by telling him about Mr. Chen and the multimillion-dollar package he was offered by Peking University, and how China’s approach to pursuing research compared with the prolonged period of budgetary stress facing scientists in the United States.

NIH的院長弗朗西斯·S·柯林斯(Francis S. Collins)向德賓提到了陳曉偉的情況，稱北京大學爲他提供的待遇價值數百萬美元。他還描述了中國在如何努力地搞研究，相比之下，待在美國的科學家則長期面臨預算緊張的困境。

“Certainly the visa situation is a big part of the issue, and it would be great to get that fixed,” Dr. Collins told the senator. “But even if that’s fixed, then people don’t see that there’s a future for them by staying in the American medical system — and it looks much brighter in Singapore or China or South Korea or Brazil — then they’re going to go where the opportunities are.”

“當然，簽證是一大問題，如果能解決的話，是很棒的，”柯林斯對德賓說。“但即便這個問題解決了，要是他們覺得留在美國的醫學研究系統看不到未來，而在新加坡、中國、韓國或巴西的前景會更好，他們就會到有機會的地方去。”

Some in Congress are concerned about declining federal support for science — the National Institutes’s budget is about 25 percent smaller than it was 10 years ago, in inflation-adjusted dollars.

聯邦政府對科研的支持力度不斷減弱：經過通貨膨脹調整，NIH的預算比10年前少了25%左右。一些國會成員對此憂心忡忡。

“China is about to eat our lunch,” Rep. Jackie Speier, Democrat of California, told a staff briefing last month on Capitol Hill.

來自加利福尼亞州的民主黨衆議員傑姬·施派爾(Jackie Speier)上個月在國會山參加工作人員通報會時表示，“中國即將吃掉我們的午餐。”

Speaking from Ann Arbor, Mich., Mr. Chen reiterated Dr. Collins’s point about economics being more important than visa rules. Even without the green-card legislation, versions of which have been pursued unsuccessfully in Congress for years, Mr. Chen said he had seen that most top-ranked foreign science graduates who really wanted to stay in the United States managed to find a way.

身處密歇根州安娜堡的陳曉偉接受採訪時重申了柯林斯的觀點，即經濟因素比簽證規定更重要。他表示，即便沒有綠卡新規，大多數的確想要待在美國的優秀外國理工科畢業生仍能設法留下。國會多年來推出了不少版本的綠卡提案，但均未能成功通過。

While a green-card bill may help foreign science graduates ranked at middle and lower performance levels, those recognized as star performers are eligible for visas, based on certain high-demand skills. “A visa is definitely not too much of a problem for many good people,” Mr. Chen said.

綠卡提案可能會對中低水平的外國理工科畢業生有所幫助，但那些頂尖的學生本已具備某些高需求技能，因此目前就有資格獲得簽證。陳曉偉說，“對於很多優秀的人來說，簽證絕對不是什麼大問題。”

Two of the most high-profile losses of foreign scientific talent in recent years — Shi Yigong, a Princeton University biology professor who left for Tsinghua University, and Rao Yi, a Northwestern University neurobiologist who decamped to Peking University — even had United States citizenship and gave it up.

在最近幾年中最受人矚目的外來科學人才流失案例中，有兩人已經獲得了美國公民身份，但最終選擇放棄。普林斯頓大學(Princeton University)的生物學教授施一公選擇了清華大學，而西北大學(Northwestern University)的神經生物學家饒毅則突然去了北京大學。

Those cases, and that of Mr. Chen, suggest that foreign scientists consider factors more varied than may be assumed in many policy debates.

上述所有案例都說明，外來科學家考慮的因素可能比許多政策辯論中假定的因素要多元。

Mr. Chen earned an undergraduate degree from Peking University in 2002 and went to Michigan, where he earned a doctorate in physiology in 2008. This year he was among a handful of winners chosen from several hundred applicants for the Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigators program at the National Institutes of Health.

陳曉偉於2002年在北京大學獲得了學士學位，然後前往密歇根大學，並在2008年拿到了生理學博士學位。今年，NIH的斯塔特曼終身研究員(Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigators)項目共收到了幾百份申請，而陳曉偉是少數幾個最終的成功者之一。

But the actual appointment of a Stadtman winner to an N.I.H. division is dependent on annual budget allocations, and Mr. Chen was told that he would probably need to wait another year or more to get a posting. Instead he accepted the offer from Peking University, which included modern lab facilities, a supply of graduate students, and — most important, he says — confidence that his budget would remain robust for many years to come.

但是，將成功的申請者實際安排到NIH的部門工作要取決於年度預算分配，而陳曉偉被告知，他很可能需要再等至少一年，才能獲得職位。於是，他轉而接受了北京大學提供的機會，其中包括現代化的實驗室設施、一定量的研究生，以及北大給予他的信心——在未來很多年裏，他的預算會持續充足。他表示，這一條最重要。

Rather than hold out the prospect of a visa that becomes an increasingly less valuable enticement for top foreign scientists, United States policy makers might instead consider reviving federal support for research and making conditions easier for American scientists to collaborate with global partners, said Mr. Simon, of Arizona State.

亞利桑那州立大學的西蒙表示，美國的決策者或許應該考慮重新加強聯邦政府對研究工作的支持，以及提供便利條件來幫助美國科學家與全球夥伴展開合作，而不要拘泥於簽證問題，因爲對於頂尖的外國科學家來說，簽證的誘惑力越來越小。

Still, the relatively few top science graduates who return home to foreign countries should not be regarded by Americans as somehow “lost” or “wasted” investments, he added.

他還表示，美國人不應該把選擇回國的優秀理工科畢業生算作投資上的某種“損失”或“浪費”。此類學生的人數相對較少。

“The interesting question is not whether one stays or goes,” he says, “but what one does wherever they are.”

“問題的關鍵並不在於離開還是留下，”他說，“而是做什麼，無論他們身在何方。”