Women and Minorities in STEM Booster Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4528 To increase the participation of historically underrepresented demographic groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and industry. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology A BILL To increase the participation of historically underrepresented demographic groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and industry. 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. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women and Minorities 4 in STEM Booster Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPA- 6 TION OF WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED 7 MINORITIES IN STEM FIELDS. 8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4528 IH (1) According to the National Academy of 1 Sciences, STEM education at the undergraduate 2 level is vital to developing a workforce that will allow 3 the United States to remain the leader in the 21st 4 century global economy. 5 (2) According to the 2013 American Commu- 6 nity Survey Report on disparities in STEM employ- 7 ment, women comprise about half of the United 8 States workforce but only make up 26 percent of 9 STEM workers. 10 (3) According to the National Center of Edu- 11 cation Statistics, women were more likely than men 12 to switch out of STEM majors—32 percent vs. 26 13 percent. 14 (4) According to the 2010 Association of Amer- 15 ican University Women report ‘‘Why So Few?’’ ap- 16 proximately 52 percent of women in STEM fields 17 quit their jobs about 10 years into their careers. It 18 is important for gender equality to increase the re- 19 tention of women in STEM fields, as women in 20 STEM careers earn 33 percent more than those in 21 non-STEM jobs, and have a smaller wage gap rel- 22 ative to men. 23 (5) According to recent Census Bureau projec- 24 tions, minorities will account for 57 percent of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4528 IH United States population by 2060. According to the 1 National Action Council for Minorities in Engineer- 2 ing, Inc., as the United States works to remain com- 3 petitive in the world of technological innovation, the 4 United States should address the need to increase 5 the number of individuals from underrepresented mi- 6 nority segments of the population who work in engi- 7 neering. 8 (6) The Higher Education Research Institute at 9 the University of California, Los Angeles, found 10 that, while freshmen from underrepresented minority 11 groups express an interest in pursuing a STEM un- 12 dergraduate degree at the same rate as all other 13 freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino students, 18.4 14 percent of African-American students, and 18.8 per- 15 cent of Native American students studying in STEM 16 fields complete their degree within 5 years, com- 17 pared to an approximate 33 percent and 42 percent 18 5-year completion rate for White and Asian stu- 19 dents, respectively. 20 (7) According to the 2015 Asian Americans Ad- 21 vancing Justice report ‘‘Making America Work’’, 22 data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 23 (AAPIs) on average hide the fact that some sub- 24 groups are underrepresented in STEM fields. For 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4528 IH example: only 9 percent of Cambodian, 8 percent of 1 Laotian, 8 percent of Hmong, and 7 percent of Na- 2 tive Hawaiian and Pacific Islander workers hold 3 STEM jobs, compared to 12 percent of the total 4 American population holding STEM jobs. 5 (8) According to 3-year estimates from the 6 2013 American Community Survey, Southeast Asian 7 Americans and Pacific Islanders have higher poverty 8 rates and lower educational attainment rates com- 9 pared to the overall population. Fifteen percent of 10 the overall population lives below the Federal pov- 11 erty level, while 21 percent of Pacific Islanders, 21 12 percent of Cambodian, 26 percent of Hmong, 17 13 percent of Laotian, and 16 percent of Vietnamese 14 community members live in poverty. Compared to 29 15 percent of the overall population with a bachelor’s 16 degree or higher, members of Pacific Islanders, 17 Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese commu- 18 nities only have a bachelor’s degree or higher at 19 rates of 15 percent, 16 percent, 16 percent, 13 per- 20 cent, and 27 percent, respectively. Levels of poverty 21 and postsecondary educational attainment correlate 22 with these groups’ underrepresentation in STEM 23 employment. Other Asian American and Pacific Is- 24 lander subgroups with similar poverty and edu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4528 IH cational attainment rates are similarly underrep- 1 resented in STEM employment. 2 (9) A 2014 National Center for Education Sta- 3 tistics study found that women and underrep- 4 resented minorities leave the STEM fields at higher 5 rates than their counterparts, leading to a need to 6 develop resources to retain these groups in the 7 STEM fields. 8 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Director of the 9 National Science Foundation shall award grants to eligible 10 entities, on a competitive basis, to enable such eligible en- 11 tities to carry out the activities described in subsection (d), 12 in order to increase the participation of women and under- 13 represented minorities in the fields of science, technology, 14 engineering, and mathematics. 15 (c) APPLICATION.—Each eligible entity that desires 16 to receive a grant under this section shall submit an appli- 17 cation to the National Science Foundation at such time, 18 in such manner, and containing such information as the 19 Director of the National Science Foundation may reason- 20 ably require. 21 (d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity 22 that receives a grant under this section shall use such 23 grant funds to carry out one or more of the following ac- 24 tivities designed to increase the participation of women or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4528 IH minorities underrepresented in science and engineering, or 1 both: 2 (1) Online workshops. 3 (2) Mentoring programs that partner science, 4 technology, engineering, or mathematics profes- 5 sionals with students. 6 (3) Internships for undergraduate and graduate 7 students in the fields of science, technology, engi- 8 neering, and mathematics. 9 (4) Conducting outreach programs that provide 10 elementary school and secondary school students 11 with opportunities to increase their exposure to the 12 fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathe- 13 matics. 14 (5) Programs to increase the recruitment and 15 retention of underrepresented faculty. 16 (6) Such additional programs as the Director of 17 the National Science Foundation may determine. 18 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 19 (1) the term ‘‘minority’’ means American In- 20 dian, Alaskan Native, Black (not of Hispanic ori- 21 gin), Hispanic (including persons of Mexican, Puerto 22 Rican, Cuban, and Central or South American ori- 23 gin), Asian (including underrepresented subgroups), 24 Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander origin subgroup, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4528 IH or other ethnic group underrepresented in science 1 and engineering; and 2 (2) the term ‘‘underrepresented in science and 3 engineering’’ means a minority group whose number 4 of scientists and engineers per 10,000 population of 5 that group is substantially below the comparable fig- 6 ure for scientists and engineers who are White and 7 not of Hispanic origin, as determined by the Sec- 8 retary of Education under section 637.4(b) of title 9 34, Code of Federal Regulations. 10 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 12 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020, 2021, 2022, 13 2023, and 2024. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS