Slang term of indeterminate origin referring to personnel hired to support Encyclopedia Foundation researchers in the field. Technically called “Facilitators”, they serve as technical support, bodyguards, bush guides, animal handlers, translators and the like. Grad Students have proven especially useful to those scientists and academics that spend much of their time cloistered in labs and classrooms and therefore lack “real world” experience. (This is considered the most likely explanation for the origin of the term). They are also sometimes hired to retrieve researchers who have run afoul of local customs and peoples or otherwise gotten in over their heads. While Grad Students are often thought of as rough and tumble frontier types, they have proven no less useful in more civilized settings such as the Core, serving as legal support and social intermediaries.