Wichita ? Most of the graduate students working this summer at Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research will have limited access to the research they are conducting.

That’s because 31 of the 36 graduate students performing research there this summer are foreign nationals. Tightened security restrictions put in place after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks often limit foreign students’ ability to participate in sensitive projects for companies or the Department of Defense.

Fearful that technology could be stolen, the Department of Defense wants to add more restrictions. Changes proposed in July would require foreign students working on defense contracts to wear special badges and work in segregated laboratories.

That has university officials and others worried that the schools could lose out on research opportunities without the expertise of the foreign students who dominate the science and technical graduate programs. At Wichita State University, foreign students make up about 69 percent of students in the aerospace, industrial and mechanical engineering doctoral programs.

“Prior to 9/11 there weren’t many restrictions at all,” said Skip Loper, associate vice president for research and administration at Wichita State University. “I think it’s inconvenient for the foreign students in the sense that on the proprietary projects you can give them some things to do that won’t show them the entire project. But that’s unfortunate because they will learn better and they will have a better experience if they can see everything being done to solve the problems.”

Lamia Salah, a research associate at the National Institute for Aviation Research, also is frustrated.

The doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering came from Morocco to study at Wichita State as an undergraduate and has since become a citizen.

“It’s very, very hard on us,” she said. “A lot of foreign nationals have a very good work ethic. A lot of times they’re very focused. So it’s very nice if we can use them. … I think it can be very frustrating for the students, very frankly. Because they do all the work and don’t have access to summarizing the data.”