II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1246 

To increase the participation of historically underrepresented demographic 

groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education 

and industry. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 25, 2017 

Mr. SCHUMER (for Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BROWN, Ms. 

STABENOW, and Mr. DURBIN)) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 

and Pensions 

A BILL 

To increase the participation of historically underrepresented 

demographic groups in science, technology, engineering, 

and mathematics education and industry. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Women and Minorities 

5 in STEM Booster Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPA2 TION OF WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED 

3 MINORITIES IN STEM FIELDS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) According to the National Academy of 

6 Sciences, STEM education at the undergraduate 

7 level is vital to developing a workforce that will allow 

8 the United States to remain the leader in the 21st 

9 century global economy. 

10 (2) According to the 2013 American Commu11 nity Survey Report on disparities in STEM employ12 ment, women comprise about half of the United 

13 States workforce but only make up 26 percent of 

14 STEM workers. 

15 (3) According to the National Center of Edu16 cation Statistics, women were more likely than men 

17 to switch out of STEM majors—32 percent vs. 26 

18 percent. 

19 (4) According to the 2010 Association of Amer20 ican University Women report ‘‘Why So Few?’’ ap21 proximately 52 percent of women in STEM fields 

22 quit their jobs about 10 years into their careers. It 

23 is important for gender equality to increase the re24 tention of women in STEM fields, as women in 

25 STEM careers earn 33 percent more than those in 


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1 non-STEM jobs, and have a smaller wage gap rel2 ative to men. 

3 (5) According to recent Census Bureau projec4 tions, minorities will account for 57 percent of the 

5 United States population by 2060. According to the 

6 National Action Council for Minorities in Engineer7 ing, Inc., as the United States works to remain com8 petitive in the world of technological innovation, the 

9 United States should address the need to increase 

10 the number of individuals from underrepresented mi11 nority segments of the population who work in engi12 neering. 

13 (6) The Higher Education Research Institute at 

14 the University of California, Los Angeles, found 

15 that, while freshmen from underrepresented minority 

16 groups express an interest in pursuing a STEM un17 dergraduate degree at the same rate as all other 

18 freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino students, 18.4 

19 percent of African-American students, and 18.8 per20 cent of Native American students studying in STEM 

21 fields complete their degree within 5 years, com22 pared to an approximate 33 percent and 42 percent 

23 5-year completion rate for White and Asian stu24 dents, respectively. 


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1 (7) According to the 2015 Asian Americans Ad2 vancing Justice report ‘‘Making America Work’’, 

3 data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 

4 (AAPIs) on average hide the fact that some sub5 groups are underrepresented in STEM fields. For 

6 example: only 9 percent of Cambodian, 8 percent of 

7 Laotian, 8 percent of Hmong, and 7 percent of Na8 tive Hawaiian and Pacific Islander workers hold 

9 STEM jobs, compared to 12 percent of the total 

10 American population holding STEM jobs. 

11 (8) According to 3-year estimates from the 

12 2013 American Community Survey, Southeast Asian 

13 Americans and Pacific Islanders have higher poverty 

14 rates and lower educational attainment rates com15 pared to the overall population. Fifteen percent of 

16 the overall population lives below the Federal pov17 erty level, while 21 percent of Pacific Islanders, 21 

18 percent of Cambodian, 26 percent of Hmong, 17 

19 percent of Laotian, and 16 percent of Vietnamese 

20 community members live in poverty. Compared to 29 

21 percent of the overall population with a bachelor’s 

22 degree or higher, members of Pacific Islanders, 

23 Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese commu24 nities only have a bachelor’s degree or higher at 

25 rates of 15 percent, 16 percent, 16 percent, 13 perVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Jun 03, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1246.IS S1246

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1 cent, and 27 percent, respectively. Levels of poverty 

2 and postsecondary educational attainment correlate 

3 with these groups’ underrepresentation in STEM 

4 employment. Other Asian American and Pacific Is5 lander subgroups with similar poverty and edu6 cational attainment rates are similarly underrep7 resented in STEM employment. 

8 (9) A 2014 National Center for Education Sta9 tistics study found that women and underrep10 resented minorities leave the STEM fields at higher 

11 rates than their counterparts, leading to a need to 

12 develop resources to retain these groups in the 

13 STEM fields. 

14 (b) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Director of the 

15 National Science Foundation shall award grants to eligible 

16 entities, on a competitive basis, to enable such eligible en17 tities to carry out the activities described in subsection (d), 

18 in order to increase the participation of women and under19 represented minorities in the fields of science, technology, 

20 engineering, and mathematics. 

21 (c) APPLICATION.—Each eligible entity that desires 

22 to receive a grant under this section shall submit an appli23 cation to the National Science Foundation at such time, 

24 in such manner, and containing such information as the 


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1 Director of the National Science Foundation may reason2 ably require. 

3 (d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity 

4 that receives a grant under this section shall use such 

5 grant funds to carry out one or more of the following ac6 tivities designed to increase the participation of women or 

7 minorities underrepresented in science and engineering, or 

8 both: 

9 (1) Online workshops. 

10 (2) Mentoring programs that partner science, 

11 technology, engineering, or mathematics profes12 sionals with students. 

13 (3) Internships for undergraduate and graduate 

14 students in the fields of science, technology, engi15 neering, and mathematics. 

16 (4) Conducting outreach programs that provide 

17 elementary school and secondary school students 

18 with opportunities to increase their exposure to the 

19 fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathe20 matics. 

21 (5) Programs to increase the recruitment and 

22 retention of underrepresented faculty. 

23 (6) Such additional programs as the Director of 

24 the National Science Foundation may determine. 

25 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘minority’’ means American In2 dian, Alaskan Native, Black (not of Hispanic ori3 gin), Hispanic (including persons of Mexican, Puerto 

4 Rican, Cuban, and Central or South American ori5 gin), Asian (including underrepresented subgroups), 

6 Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander origin subgroup, 

7 or other ethnic group underrepresented in science 

8 and engineering; and 

9 (2) the term ‘‘underrepresented in science and 

10 engineering’’ means a minority group whose number 

11 of scientists and engineers per 10,000 population of 

12 that group is substantially below the comparable fig13 ure for scientists and engineers who are White and 

14 not of Hispanic origin, as determined by the Sec15 retary of Education under section 637.4(b) of title 

16 34, Code of Federal Regulations. 

17 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

18 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

19 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018, 2019, 2020, 

20 2021, and 2022. 

Æ 


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