_From: cnd-us@cnd.org (CND-US Editors) Subject: CND-US, March 10, 1996 (US96-013) Date: Sun, 10 Mar 1996 02:03:48 -0600 (CST) +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ US Regional, No. US96-013 March 10, 1996 +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | CND-US, normally 1 or 2 issues a week, is a supplement to CND-Global and | | has basically no overlap with the CND-G news. CND-US provides in-depth | | information concerning Chinese students/scholars in the United States. | +-------------------------------ISSN 1024-9141-----------------------------+ Table of Contents # of Lines ============================================================================ 1. New Development of Simpson Immigration Bill S.1394: Simpson to Withdraw Immigration Bill Provisions; Simpson Conceded and Dropped Employment Provisions; Senate Judiciary Committee's Markup of S. 1394 ..................... 90 2. Trial of the Idaho Double Murder Case Will Start Anew ................ 35 3. Chinese and American Cultural Differences Show Up in Psychology ...... 38 4. Information Exchange: Summary on Obtaining H-1B Status for MDs to Conduct Clinical Work ... 122 5. Job Opportunities (7 Items) ......................................... 176 6. Conferences: College Teaching and Career Workshop .................... 85 --- --- --- News/Info on S.1394 Is Available at URL http://cnd.cnd.org/visa/simpson-bill/ Or at URL http://www.cnd.org/ (Look for Server Announcements on the top page) ============================================================================ CND is a free network news service run by volunteers. To subscribe to/unsub. various CND Services and/or for more information, see trailer of the package. CND-US is published by China News Digest International, Inc. All rights are reserved. Redistribution is hereby permitted provided that it is not for profit and with proper acknowledgment to CND. ============================================================================ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. New Development of Simpson Immigration Bill S.1394: Simpson to Withdraw Immigration Bill Provisions; Simpson Conceded and Dropped Employment Provisions; Senate Judiciary Committee's Markup of S. 1394 ..................... 90 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Simpson to Withdraw Immigration Bill Provisions In an unexpected announcement at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday, Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) said he will withdraw an immigration bill provision that would reduce the number of employment-based visas from 140,000 to 90,000 each year. Also to be dropped is a provision that would make it more expensive for companies to hire foreigners instead of American workers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today. It also reported that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was angered by Simpson's move, saying American workers need protection against lower-paid foreign workers. "I had no adequate notice you were going to do this," Kennedy told Simpson who chairs the immigration subcommittee, "I will bring it back." (George Zhu) ____ ____ ____ (2) Simpson Conceded and Dropped Employment Provisions From: Ifcss Hq , Mar 8, 1996 Yesterday afternoon the IFCSS HQ staff was informed by Congressional office of Senator Spencer Abraham, that Senator Simpson conceded to strong lobby activities, and announced dropping of several important provisions in his pending legislation S 1394 regarding employment immigration, which include: 1. Strike a reduction in the number of employment-based immigrant visas from 140,000 to 90,000; 2. Strike a fee of $10,000 or 10 percent of annual compensation charged to employers for each immigrant worker they bring in; 3. Strike a requirement that employers petitioning for an alien worker showed they tried to recruit Americans; 4. Drop a ban on laying off U.S. workers and replacing them with immigrants; 5. Drop restrictions on the hiring of temporary "nonimmigrant" workers, etc... Senator Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), whose office was visited three times in the past two months by the IFCSS HQ staff, led the advocacy of employment- and family-based immigration, said he intends to pur- sue his effort to split the bill next week. In the past several months, the intensive lobbying by business leaders, sevearl coali- tions of liberal, conservative, labor, religious, ethnic and pro- immigration groups shocked Simpson's legislation. Without concession in such a way, it will be very likely that the bill would be split up next week. Simpson expressed grave and bitter frustration for such a extensive concession, bowed to lobby activities, but believed the overall legislation of reduction on both legal and illegal immi- gration could pass before his retirement. ____ ____ ____ (3) Senate Judiciary Committee Markup of S. 1394 From: Ifcss Hq , Mar 6, 1996 The Senate Judiciary Committee met this morning to markup S. 1394, "The Immigration Reform Act of 1995." During the opening state- ments, Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) expressed their misgivings about some of the legal, employment- based provisions of the bill. DeWine, in particular, mentioned the "outstanding professor/researcher" category of the bill, stating that employers would have to go through "bureaucratic hoops and loops" if such sections of the legislation remain unchanged. After the opening statements ended, Senator Abraham expressed a desire to offer an amendment which would split the bill into legal and illegal sections, which would be marked up and voted on separ- ately. Senator Simpson (R-WY), quite vociferously raised an objec- tion, pointing out that as Chairman of the Immigration Subcommi- ttee, which originally marked up the bill, he had the right to offer the first amendment. According to Simpson, he had several amendments to offer which he believed would remedy some of the more contentious employment-based provisions of the bill; thus elimina- ting the need for the bill to be split. With Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chairman of the full Judiciary Committee acting as a referee, Senators Simpson and Abraham engaged in a spirited debate over when Abraham's amendment would allowed to be offered. At one point, Senator Simpson claimed he would invoke personal privilege and threatened that even if the bill was split, "I can still paste it all back on the floor." Eventually, Chairman Hatch ruled that the bill would be marked up title by title in chronological order, with Abraham able to offer his amendment at a later date. Shortly after noon, Hatch adjourned the markup until Thursday, March 7, during which Title I of the legislation, which deals with illegal immigration provisions, will be marked up. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Trial of the Idaho Double Murder Case Will Start Anew ................ 35 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- _From: Yuan-Zhang Li , Mar 6, 1996; Edited by Jian-Min LI Having heard much of the evidence of the Wenkai Li murder case, but not being allowed to impose capital sentence on the defendant due to a plea bargain settlement, Judge Bengtson excused himself from the case. After meeting briefly with attorneys in his chamber, Judge Bengtson ordered a new trial. A new judge and a date of the new trial will be set by the 2nd District Court. "I could no longer automatically drop the possibility of the death penalty," Bengtson said Friday, March 1, 1996, three hours after tossing Wenkai Li's guilty pleas and the plea agreement that prevented a death penalty. Wenkai Li, a student at the University of Idaho in Moscow, was charged of murdering Ning Li and his wife Xia Ge on May 29, 1995. In November 1995, a plea bargain was settled and Wenkai Li was accounted for the first degree murder of Xia Ge and second degree murder of Ning Li with the death penalty being prevented. The sentence trial was then held from February 28 to March 1, 1996. The family members of the slain couple were confused, exhausted and financially strapped. This was the third time for them to attend the trial from China and the East coast, U.S. But in order to seek justice, they are willing to do anything they can and prepared to suffer for a while longer. "Even I become a homeless, even I only have one dollar left, I will come back again to fight with the criminal, and seek the justice." Hong Li, Ning Li's elder brother from China, said in a room of Motel 6, Moscow, Idaho. The victim families want to express their deepest gratefulness to those who had been supporting them and hope the public continues to support them in the whole legal process. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Chinese and American Cultural Differences Show Up in Psychology ...... 38 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- By: Frank LING A report in the February 24 issue of New Scientist claims that the differences in ways of thinking between Westerners and East Asians are strongly interwoven with their cultural differences. The journal cites Yale University psychology professor Joan Miller as saying that some psychological aspects are fundamentally affected by culture, in direct opposition to the conventional premise that psychology has no overlap with culture. Phoebe Ellsworth, a psychologist from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, reported her findings at a recent American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting. He compared responses of groups of Chinese and American subjects when showing them pictures of fish. The Chinese described it as "rejected by the group" and the Americans praised it as a sign of "striking out on its own" in regard with a picture of a single fish swimming away from a group. Reversing the scenario, i.e., a group of fish converging to a single fish, the Chinese regarded it positively that the group was joining an "isolated" single fish while the Americans viewed it as a "threat" to the single fish. Overall, the Chinese group fared much better in questions concerning the group of fish as a whole, whereas the Americans tended to say that the fish as a group did not have a feeling like a single fish does. However, both groups responded positively to a picture of two fish staying together and acting concertedly. Furthermore, the child subjects, aged between nine and ten, of both countries had similar responses the most, implying that as people grow up the etiquette pervades into their psychology. Miller concluded that the "universality" of psychology, i.e., its being above and beyond cultures, is only applicable for the western world. For example, westeners tend to rate themsevles above average intelligence Q the so called "universal coping mechanism". In Japan, Miller said, people place themselves much more realistically or even humbly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Information Exchange: Summary on Obtaining H-1B Status for MDs to Conduct Clinical Work ... 122 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Summary on Obtaining H-1B Status for MDs to Conduct Clinical Work Source: NAFSA, Mar 5, 1996; Forwarded by: Bo XIONG This is a summary of the questions I asked on February 22 about documents required to obtain H-1B status for MDs who will conduct clinical work, and the timing of the results of the USMLE exams. (as for regulatory citations, see 8CFR Plus, 1995, 214.2(h)) Question and Answer: 1. Are all three steps of the USMLE exam required for submission to INS to obtain an APPROVED H-1B for foreign-educated MDs who will do clinical work? YES, all respondents indicated Steps 1, 2,3 (all Steps)of the USMLE are required, although no institution has yet submitted just Steps 1 and 2 (without Step 3) while results of Step 3 are pending. EXCEPTION: Foreign born students who attended a US Medical School for their medical education are NOT required to have Step 3 prior to applying for the H-1B (See Interpreter Releases Sept. 21, 1992) **But those who attended Medical School outside the U.S. are required to have passed all three parts of the exam (even if State Licensure requirements do not impose this rule!) 2. How are other institutions handling such requests? Answers varied on this issue and included the following: a. Tulane processes H-1Bs for physicians but very few. b. Baylor processes H-1Bs for those who qualify because "it is more flexible for potential faculty candidates and is the appropriate choice for those IMGs that cannot obtain a Ministry of Health letter or those foreign born American Medical Grads." c. Tufts processes H-1Bs only for those who have all 3 Steps of the USMLE, or are US Medical School Grads. d. Univ. of California (all campuses)will process H-1B for US Medical School Grads, but will NOT for FMG's (foreign medical graduates) in medical training programs. e. Harvard doesn't handle any visas for clinical fellows at its affiliated institutions, however, it was the practice at Johns Hopkins (by policy) not to process H-1Bs for FMGs. f. Thomas Jefferson will process H-1Bs for FMGs if the Residency Director and the Department agrees. 3. Does your institution provide H-1Bs for foreign medical grads entering into Residency Programs? See also above comments. Of the institutions that process H-1Bs for FMGs, there was no comment on distinguishing between someone entering a Residency Program and others, perhaps more senior positions such as Instructor, Associate of Anesthesia, or Clinical Fellows. (you'll find that many of these people hold the former exam--FLEX because they have already completed their training) Of those institutions that DO NOT process H-1Bs for FMGS, a summary of the comments include: The institution has made a policy decision against doing H-1Bs for FMGS based on recommendations and/or agreement from Administration and the Deans. Also the AAMC (Assoc. of American Medical Colleges) strongly recommends against H-1Bs for FMGs. Deans do not want to "buck" them (AAMC). (There was also some talk (from AAMC???) that schools using the H-1B might risk loosing funding and/or accredation.) Plus we are a State-supported (partially) institution. 4. This seems to be an issue of timing...that is a Residency Program begins on July 1, and results of the USMLE are not due until August, therefore H-1B approval is unlikely. Is anyone filing without Step 3? comments included: a. I have not resolved the timing issue. b. Maybe these residents can begin their program a bit later based on their circumstances. c. NO (solution?) d. A few of our resident are taking the May exam, and the hospital is holding their appointment date until September 1, 1996. e. We do not do H-1Bs for FMGs in Residency Programs. f. In some states (Mass.) FMGs can't take Step 3 until completing the first year of an Internship, but some FMGs have taken Step 3 in another State which does NOT impose this requirement (Conn), and then apply to programs in their state of choice. OTHER COMMENTS: * Try the J-1 sponsoreed by ECFMG. * We prefer the J-1, but will do H-1Bs if supported by Department. * We found that getting a policy advisory decision from the Dean of the College of Medicine was the way to go. That way, it is not our decision (not to process H-1Bs) but the College of Medicine's. * The J-1 (sponsored by ECFMG) is preferreed by most hospitals since it is much faster and less complicated. True, but it does have a mandatory 2 year foreign residency requirement imposed at the completion of the program (and its nearly impossible to get a waiver of this requirement) Therefore FMG who meet all the other requirements of the H-1B often request this status. CONCLUSION: This is a complicated and specialized area of CAFSS. There are differences between what is permitted by regulation and institutional policy. It is likely that there will be a program and/or meeting at the the Phoenix Conference on this subject. There was also a brief mention about a session on Advising IMGs (International Medical Graduates) in October in Hilton Head, S.C. Jamie Martel, Massachusetts General Hospital ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Job Opportunities (7 Items) ......................................... 176 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Semiconductor Processing Engineer Wanted (2) Hiring Human Resources Manager in Shanghai (3) Postdoctor/Lecturer Position (4) Postdoctoral Fellow (Myosin-I Associated Proteins) (5) Positions in Escalade Company (6) Position at the Washington College of Law (7) Sales Engineer ____ ____ ____ (1) Semiconductor Processing Engineer Wanted From: Train Qun Luo , Mar 7, 1996 TKO personnel Inc. now hire semiconductor engineers for our clients - big chip manufacturers and capital equipment manufacturers. Attractive salaries and wonderful opportunities. Locations are P.R. China, Singapore and Taiwan. Please send your resume to Attn: Train Luo Fax: 1-408-453 9083 Tel: 1-408-451 5490 Email: train@gnn.com TKO's homepage: http://www.internet-is/tko ____ ____ ____ (2) Hiring Human Resources Manager in Shanghai Source: soc.culture.china, Mar 7, 1996; Forwarded by: bo XIONG Must have 5+ years experience working with a U.S. manufacturing company. Should be well rounded and have exposure to Employee Relations, Compensation & Benefits, and Staffing. Must also have strong communication skills and be bilingual. Please submit further questions or potential applicants to recruit1@ix.netcom.com ____ ____ ____ (3) Postdoctor/Lecturer Position From: Lihong Wang , Mar 6, 1996 The Bioengineering Program at Texas A&M University has an open position for a postdoctor/lecturer member. This combined position is responsible for teaching an undergraduate electronics course and conducting research with Dr. Lihong Wang. Dr. Wang's primary research interests include optical tomography of biological tissues and biomedical optics. A Ph.D. in biomedical/electrical engineering or a closely related area, with a strong background in electronics and optics is required. The salary will be commensurate with the experience. The expected starting date is Fall, 1996. An earlier start date may be possible. The Bioengineering Program offers an ABET accredited undergraduate degree and graduate degrees at the masters and doctoral levels. Current areas of research in the Program include optical biosensors and laser interaction with biological tissue with a recently funded NSF Combined Research - Curriculum Development grant in Biomedical Optics; optical tomography and spectroscopy; biomechanics; orthopedic devices; artificial heart design; biosignal processing; rehabilitation engineering; and human factors aspects of medical device design. To apply submit a resume and the names of three references to: Lihong Wang, Ph.D. Bioengineering Program Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-3120 Email: lwang@tamu.edu ____ ____ ____ (4) Postdoctoral Fellow (Myosin-I Associated Proteins) From: Henry G. Zot , Mar 4, 1996 INSTITUTION OR COMPANY: UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas ADDRESS: Dallas TX CONTACT PERSON: Henry G. Zot PHONE: 214-648-7224, FAX: 214-648-8685 EMAIL: zot@utsw.swmed.edu DATE OF AVAILABILITY: Immediate SALARY: $20,000. (no state income tax) JOB DESCRIPTION: Immediate opening in a small research group for an energetic recent Ph.D. to study proteins associated with myosin-I (Xu et al. 1995. JBC 270: 25316-25319). This position may appeal to someone interested in the cellular function of actin-based molecular motors or, possibly, someone interested in mechanisms of SH3 domain interactions. On-going projects require experience with protein purification and general cloning techniques. Helpful related skills include cell staining, fluorescent cell sorting, cell transfection, and gene manipulation in Dictyostelium. JOB REQUIREMENTS: Ph.D. and J-1 or equivalent visa APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: To apply, please send an updated CV and a brief statement. ____ ____ ____ (5) Positions in Escalade Company Source: soc.culture.china, Mar 7, 1996; Forwarded by: Bo XIONG Escalade is expanding its R&D division and we are trying to find the best engineers to join a small but powerful team. The company is currently looking for talents not only in the US but also from all over the world. If you know someone in China who qualifies, please contact me immediately. Thanks a lot. - Joe Wu, (408) 654-1674, joew@escalade.com Multiple Positions: Experience requirement for all positions: C++ for technical application development Experience requirement for some positions: VHDL/Verilog Synthesis (Synopsys) and ASIC design methodology Simulation technology Parsers GUI ASIC design Education: MS/Ph.D EE/CS from top engineering schools required ____ ____ ____ (6) Position at the Washington College of Law From: Wei Luo , Mar 8, 1996 American University's Washington College of Law has an immediate opening for a person to manage computer services and audio-visual department. Prefer B.S. in Information Systems and/or CNE. 5+ years hands-on Novell network experience (prefer some of that be in 4.x). Experience with sophisticated audio-visual systems, extensive knowledge of PC's using DOS, Windows, WordPerfect, Paradox or dBase, Quattro or Lotus and the Internet. Additional experience with Windows NT and Unix, management of e-mail and WWW servers, and remote communications equipment (Chatterbox) highly desirable. Experience in hardware/software troubleshooting, management of other technical support personnel. Ability to work with diverse and demanding users. Good planning, judgement and communication skills a must. Resumes must include salary requirement. Send to: Jean Urkums Assistant Dean for Finance and Administration Washington College of Law 4801 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016 or e-mail to: jurkums@postoffice.wcl.american.edu ____ ____ ____ (7) Sales Engineer From: Zhaohuai Liu , Mar 9, 1996 Full time job opening for an international trading company. The company distributes American electronic products to China and surroundig areas. Job title: Sales Engineer Job Description: 1. Respond customers' inquiries. 2. Technical evaluation and purchasing of American products. 3. Coordinate import/export processes. Job requirements: 1. Motivated and persistent. 2. Good communication skills in English. 3. Fluent in Chinese. 4. Technical background (Electronics background preferred). 5. Basic business sense. Compensation: Competitive salary. Location: Princeton area in the State of New Jersey, USA. Contact: Please fax resume to: Personnel, LIUTEK Co. Fax: 609-936-8899, Tel: 609-936-8801 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Conferences: College Teaching and Career Workshop .................... 85 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) College Teaching and Career Workshop From: Zhaohui Hong <76162.1411@compuserve.com>, Mar 4, 1996 In order to help our members have a successful teaching career and a smooth promotion, the Association of Chinese Professors of Social Sciences in the U.S. (ACPSS) is sponsoring the "College Teaching and Career Workshop." The workshop provides a forum for members to share their experience, insight, and "tips" in teaching social sciences and humanities in liberal arts colleges and universities in America. ACPSS will hold its "College Teaching and Career Workshop" at the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK, on May 17-18, 1996. The two-day multi-facet gathering takes place at the university center on campus and the conference rooms at the Fifth Seasons Inn Hotel. The ACPSS workshop now invites proposals on college teaching and academic career development. While emphasizing more on personal experience, communication methods and skills, "crisis" management, and career exploration, the workshop welcomes proposals on any other topics related to the college teaching and academic career. Members interested in presenting a paper at the workshop should prepare a one-page proposal and a one-page vita and send them to: Dr. Xiao-bing Li Department of History University of Central Oklahoma 100 N. University Drive Edmond, OK 73034 We encourage interested members to send in their proposals as early as possible. The proposals will be reviewed by ACPSS board members according to their receiving dates. The deadline for the proposals is April 1, 1996. ACPSS will cover lodging and meals for all attendants and provide partial travel subsidies for those who present a paper at the workshop. ACPSS encourages members to apply for professional development funds from their own institutions since almost all institutions have special funds for career development. ACPSS will be glad to send formal invitation letters and other materials needed by the members to apply for institutional support. ACPSS will issue workshop certificates to all the participants. If you are interested in participating the workshop, please fill up the registration form provided here and send it to Xiaobing Li no later than April 15, 1996. If you have any questions and suggestions, please contact Xiao-bing Li at the above address or at (405) 341-2980, ext. 5483, or fax (405) 330-3823, and e-mail: xiaobing@aix1.ucok.edu Registration Form Name in English: Name in Chinese: Title: Field: Position: Department and Institute: Mailing Address: Working Phone Number: Home Phone: Fax: Are you going to present a paper at the workshop? Yes: No: If yes, title of the paper: If no, what topic discussion you are interested in: Suggestion: Please complete the Registration Form along with a check of $15.00 registration fee ($18.00 in Canada) payable to ACPSS and send to Xiaobing Li no later than April 15, 1996. For those who are going to present a paper, please also enclose an one-page proposal and your vita. The workshop program and local travel direction will be sent to the participants in the first week of May. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor of This Issue: Jian-Min LI (Tucson, AZ) | | Coordinating Editor of This Issue: Yungui DING (Chicago, IL) | | CND Mailing Lists Maintainers: Minghui YAO | | CND Reader Technical Consultant: Yinrong HUANG (St. Louis, MO) | | CND Manager: Bing WEN (CA) | | Team members are in the U.S.A. unless indicated otherwise: | | AU - Australia, CA - Canada, SG - Singapore, FI - Finland | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest (CND) offers the following services: | | (1) Global News (Every Other Day) (2) US Regional News | | (3) Canada Regional News (4) Europe & Pacific Regional News | | (5) HXWZ (Weekly Chinese Magazine) (6) InfoBase | | CND back issues, database and related information are available via: | | ftp://cnd.org [132.249.229.100]; gopher://cnd.org; http://www.cnd.org | | For Readers in Canada: ftp://canada.cnd.org/pub/cnd/ IP:142.132.1.50 | | For Readers in Europe: ftp://europe.cnd.org/pub/doc/cnd/ IP:132.199.1.203| | To subscribe or get information, mail requests to: CND-INFO@CND.ORG | | To contribute news, e-mail: CND-EDITOR@CND.ORG | | Postal Address: CND, P.O.Box 10111, Gaithersburg, MD 20898-0111, U.S.A. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+