It is neither bad nor good per se, but it explains why Ph.D. don't stay.If the US is really interested in keeping foreign Ph.D. students they should change this policy, if they are interested in preserving "national integrity" they should continue this way, it is simply a matter of which policy they want to pursue, there is no moral judgment involved.

From a foreign Ph.D. student perspective it is pretty clear that we are merely tolerated in the US, and there is no interest in keeping us. Capping the number of H1-B visas and making the visa and green card application process a nightmare is a clear indication of the lack of interest from the US government (or probably the US public opinion) in retaining highly educated and skilled professionals. We clearly feel unwanted, unappreciated and tolerated as an "evil" necessity by the general population. We are given much less consideration and opportunities in comparison to our US-born colleagues, often regardless of merit (see the admission statistics of US/nonUS nationals for HOT Ph.D. areas such as biomedical engineering). Anyone that has an even decent opportunity in his country of origin (or continent of origin for Europeans) will definitely go beck unless they have political or ethical issues with their home country.

Ohhh, c'mon ya all know the transition metals are the best ones. You can make great oxides out of them. You have Titanium. And they are way more democratic than the Noble Metals