STEM Opportunities Act

IIB 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 204 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 19, 2021 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions AN ACT To direct the Director of the Office of Science and Tech- nology Policy to carry out programs and activities to ensure that Federal science agencies and institutions of higher education receiving Federal research and develop- ment funding are fully engaging their entire talent pool, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 204 RFS Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; FINDINGS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘STEM Opportunities Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; findings. Sec. 2. Purposes. Sec. 3. Federal science agency policies for caregivers. Sec. 4. Collection and reporting of data on Federal research grants. Sec. 5. Policies for review of Federal research grants. Sec. 6. Collection of data on demographics of faculty. Sec. 7. Cultural and institutional barriers to expanding the academic and Fed- eral STEM workforce. Sec. 8. Research and dissemination at the National Science Foundation. Sec. 9. Research and related activities to expand STEM opportunities. Sec. 10. Tribal Colleges and Universities Program. Sec. 11. Report to Congress. Sec. 12. Merit review. Sec. 13. Determination of budgetary effects. Sec. 14. Definitions. (c) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 8 (1) Many reports over the past decade have 9 found that it is critical to our Nation’s economic 10 leadership and global competitiveness that the 11 United States educates and trains more scientists 12 and engineers. 13 (2) Research shows that women and minorities 14 who are interested in STEM careers are dispropor- 15 tionately lost at nearly every educational transition 16 and at every career milestone. 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 204 RFS (3) The National Center for Science and Engi- 1 neering Statistics at the National Science Founda- 2 tion collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes data 3 on the demographics of STEM degrees and STEM 4 jobs in the United States. 5 (4) Women now earn nearly 37 percent of all 6 STEM bachelor’s degrees, but major variations per- 7 sist among fields. In 2017, women earned only 20 8 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded in engi- 9 neering and 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees award- 10 ed in computer sciences. Based on Bureau of Labor 11 Statistics data, jobs in computing occupations are 12 expected to account for nearly 60 percent of the pro- 13 jected annual growth of newly created STEM job 14 openings from 2016 to 2026. 15 (5) In 2017, underrepresented minority groups 16 comprised 39 percent of the college-age population 17 of the United States, but only 18 percent of stu- 18 dents who earned bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields. 19 The Higher Education Research Institute at the 20 University of California, Los Angeles, found that, 21 while freshmen from underrepresented minority 22 groups express an interest in pursuing a STEM un- 23 dergraduate degree at the same rate as all other 24 freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino students, 18.4 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 204 RFS percent of African-American students, and 18.8 per- 1 cent of Native American students studying in STEM 2 fields complete their degree within 5 years, com- 3 pared to approximately 33 percent of White students 4 and 42 percent of Asian students who complete their 5 degree within 5 years. 6 (6) In some STEM fields, including the com- 7 puter sciences, women persist at about the same rate 8 through doctorate degrees. In other STEM fields, 9 women persist through doctorate degrees at a lower 10 rate. In mathematics, women earn just 26 percent of 11 doctorate degrees compared with 42 percent of un- 12 dergraduate degrees. Overall, women earned 38 per- 13 cent of STEM doctorate degrees in 2016. The rate 14 of minority students earning STEM doctorate de- 15 grees in physics is 9 percent, compared with 15 per- 16 cent for bachelor’s degree. Students from underrep- 17 resented minority groups accounted for only 11.5 18 percent of STEM doctorate degrees awarded in 19 2016. 20 (7) The representation of women in STEM 21 drops significantly from the doctorate degree level to 22 the faculty level. Overall, women hold only 26 per- 23 cent of all tenured and tenure-track positions and 27 24 percent of full professor positions in STEM fields in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 204 RFS our Nation’s universities and 4-year colleges. Black 1 and Hispanic faculty together hold about 6.8 percent 2 of all tenured and tenure-track positions and 7.5 3 percent of full professor positions. Many of the num- 4 bers in the American Indian or Alaskan Native and 5 Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander cat- 6 egories for different faculty ranks were too small for 7 the National Science Foundation to report publicly 8 without potentially compromising confidential infor- 9 mation about the individuals being surveyed. 10 (8) The representation of women is especially 11 low at our Nation’s top research universities. Even 12 in the biological sciences, in which women now earn 13 more than 50 percent of the doctorates and passed 14 the 25 percent level 37 years ago, women make up 15 only 25 percent of the full professors at the approxi- 16 mately 100 most research-intensive universities in 17 the United States. In the physical sciences and 18 mathematics, women make up only 11 percent of full 19 professors, in computer sciences only 10 percent, 20 and across engineering fields only 7 percent. The 21 data suggest that approximately 6 percent of all ten- 22 ure-track STEM faculty members at the most re- 23 search-intensive universities are from underrep- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 204 RFS resented minority groups, but in some fields the 1 numbers are too small to report publicly. 2 (9) By 2050, underrepresented minorities will 3 comprise 52 percent of the college-age population of 4 the United States. If the percentage of female stu- 5 dents and students from underrepresented minority 6 groups earning bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields 7 does not significantly increase, the United States 8 will face an acute shortfall in the overall number of 9 students who earn degrees in STEM fields just as 10 United States companies are increasingly seeking 11 students with those skills. With this impending 12 shortfall, the United States will almost certainly lose 13 its competitive edge in the 21st century global econ- 14 omy. 15 (10) According to a 2014 Association for 16 Women in Science survey of over 4,000 scientists 17 across the globe, 70 percent of whom were men, 18 STEM researchers face significant challenges in 19 work-life integration. Researchers in the United 20 States were among the most likely to experience a 21 conflict between work and their personal life at least 22 weekly. One-third of researchers surveyed said that 23 ensuring good work-life integration has negatively 24 impacted their careers, and, of researchers intending 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 204 RFS to leave their current job within the next year, 9 1 percent indicated it was because they were unable to 2 balance work and life demands. 3 (11) Female students and students from under- 4 represented minority groups at institutions of higher 5 education who see few others ‘‘like themselves’’ 6 among faculty and student populations often do not 7 experience the social integration that is necessary for 8 success in all disciplines, including STEM. 9 (12) One in five children in the United States 10 attend school in a rural community. The data shows 11 that rural students are at a disadvantage with re- 12 spect to STEM readiness. Among STEM-interested 13 students, 17 percent of students in rural high 14 schools and 18 percent of students in town-located 15 high schools meet the ACT STEM Benchmark, com- 16 pared with 33 percent of students in suburban high 17 schools and 27 percent of students in urban high 18 schools. 19 (13) A substantial body of evidence establishes 20 that most people hold implicit biases. Decades of 21 cognitive psychology research reveal that most peo- 22 ple carry prejudices of which they are unaware but 23 that nonetheless play a large role in evaluations of 24 people and their work. Unintentional biases and out- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 204 RFS moded institutional structures are hindering the ac- 1 cess and advancement of women, minorities, and 2 other groups historically underrepresented in STEM. 3 (14) Workshops held to educate faculty about 4 unintentional biases have demonstrated success in 5 raising awareness of such biases. 6 (15) In 2012, the Office of Diversity and Equal 7 Opportunity of the National Aeronautics and Space 8 Administration (in this Act referred to as ‘‘NASA’’) 9 completed a report that— 10 (A) is specifically designed to help NASA 11 grant recipients identify why the dearth of 12 women in STEM fields continues and to ensure 13 that it is not due to discrimination; and 14 (B) provides guidance that is usable by all 15 institutions of higher education receiving sig- 16 nificant Federal research funding on how to 17 conduct meaningful self-evaluations of campus 18 culture and policies. 19 (16) The Federal Government provides 55 per- 20 cent of research funding at institutions of higher 21 education and, through its grant-making policies, 22 has had significant influence on institution of higher 23 education policies, including policies related to insti- 24 tutional culture and structure. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 204 RFS SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 1 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 2 (1) To ensure that Federal science agencies and 3 institutions of higher education receiving Federal re- 4 search and development funding are fully engaging 5 the entire talent pool of the United States. 6 (2) To promote research on, and increase un- 7 derstanding of, the participation and trajectories of 8 women, minorities, and other groups historically 9 underrepresented in STEM studies and careers, in- 10 cluding persons with disabilities, older learners, vet- 11 erans, and rural, poor, and tribal populations, at in- 12 stitutions of higher education and Federal science 13 agencies, including Federal laboratories. 14 (3) To raise awareness within Federal science 15 agencies, including Federal laboratories, and institu- 16 tions of higher education about cultural and institu- 17 tional barriers limiting the recruitment, retention, 18 promotion, and other indicators of participation and 19 achievement of women, minorities, and other groups 20 historically underrepresented in academic and Gov- 21 ernment STEM research careers at all levels. 22 (4) To identify, disseminate, and implement 23 best practices at Federal science agencies, including 24 Federal laboratories, and at institutions of higher 25 education to remove or reduce cultural and institu- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 HR 204 RFS tional barriers limiting the recruitment, retention, 1 and success of women, minorities, and other groups 2 historically underrepresented in academic and Gov- 3 ernment STEM research careers. 4 (5) To provide grants to institutions of higher 5 education to recruit, retain, and advance STEM fac- 6 ulty members from underrepresented minority 7 groups and to implement or expand reforms in un- 8 dergraduate STEM education in order to increase 9 the number of students from underrepresented mi- 10 nority groups receiving degrees in these fields. 11 SEC. 3. FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY POLICIES FOR CARE- 12 GIVERS. 13 (a) OSTP GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months 14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in 15 consultation with relevant agencies, shall provide guidance 16 to each Federal science agency to establish policies that— 17 (1) apply to all— 18 (A) research awards granted by such agen- 19 cy; and 20 (B) principal investigators of such research 21 and their trainees, including postdoctoral re- 22 searchers and graduate students, who have 23 caregiving responsibilities, including care for a 24 newborn or newly adopted child and care for an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 HR 204 RFS immediate family member who is sick or dis- 1 abled; and 2 (2) provide— 3 (A) flexibility in timing for the initiation of 4 approved research awards granted by such 5 agency; 6 (B) no-cost extensions of such research 7 awards; 8 (C) grant supplements, as appropriate, to 9 research awards for research technicians or 10 equivalent positions to sustain research activi- 11 ties conducted under such awards; and 12 (D) any other appropriate accommodations 13 at the discretion of the director of each such 14 agency. 15 (b) UNIFORMITY OF GUIDANCE.—In providing guid- 16 ance under subsection (a), the Director shall encourage 17 uniformity and consistency in the policies established pur- 18 suant to such guidance across all Federal science agencies. 19 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF POLICIES.—Consistent with 20 the guidance under subsection (a), Federal science agen- 21 cies shall— 22 (1) maintain or develop and implement policies 23 for individuals described in paragraph (1)(B) of 24 such subsection; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:55 May 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H204.RFS H204 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]