A Word from the Editor ...

This year's compilation of student reports has presented me with a "good news, bad news" scenario. The good news (which dominates) is that we have had one of the largest groups of participants ever, while maintaining the quality I have come to value in these distinguished young scientists. In addition, the widespread availability of e-mail has enabled us all to keep in closer contact than ever before....sharing problems and humor along the way.

Unfortunately, their zeal and energy produced a bumper crop of reports, the total of which would have produced a book beyond our constraints of time, space, and budget. Whereas in past years I did well to coax even a meagre report from many of the students, this year's group inundated me with varied and valuable accounts of their year in the U.S. This presented me with the unenviable task of not only editing for the usual technical changes, but also of cutting heavily from some individual selections.

Finally we hope to have solved this dilemma with...what else?....an electronic solution! With the help of our talented Dartmouth student, Tim Lange, we are going to offer on our web page (www.lifesciences.net) the complete account of all the students, while presenting here what we hope are the core comments. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to seek out the additional valuable material awaiting you in cyberspace.

Margaret A. (Peg) Bailey U. S. Program Coordinator

P.S. The student accounts of their research were not touched by the editorial red pencil. ( I know better than to venture into unfamiliar technical territory. ) Therefore, any errors in that area are theirs alone, whereas I accept responsibility for the inevitable other glitches.

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