Called Gradshare and developed by ProQuest, the Web site follows on the heels of other social-networking sites aimed at graduate students, like Graduate Junction. However, Gradshare's developers hope that the site, which opened in beta form last October, will carve out a niche with its question-and-answer focus.

The Office of UW Technology at University of Washington is developing Research1, a Web site that will allow scattered researchers to reunite in online communities and share their projects with the general public through various media, including audio and video files.