I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4375 

To provide for a study on broadening participation in certain National Science 

Foundation research and education programs, to collect data on Federal 

research grants to science agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 13, 2017 

Mrs. COMSTOCK (for herself, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

SMITH of Texas, and Mr. KNIGHT) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To provide for a study on broadening participation in certain 

National Science Foundation research and education programs, to collect data on Federal research grants to 

science agencies, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘STEM Research and 

5 Education Effectiveness and Transparency Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN STEM PROGRAM 

2 EFFECTIVENESS STUDY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after 

4 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na5 tional Science Foundation shall submit a report to Con6 gress on the effectiveness of all National Science Founda7 tion research and education programs for broadening the 

8 participation of women and other historically underrep9 resented individuals in STEM studies and careers, includ10 ing— 

11 (1) development or identification of perform12 ance metrics to evaluate such programs; 

13 (2) information on student outcomes using all 

14 available data, including dropout rates, enrollment in 

15 graduate programs, internships or apprenticeships, 

16 and employment; 

17 (3) identification of any data gaps for evalu18 ating the effectiveness and outcomes of National 

19 Science Foundation programs to broaden participa20 tion; and 

21 (4) recommendations for maintaining, trans22 lating, and disseminating outcomes data for STEM 

23 programs funded by the National Science Founda24 tion. 

25 (b) DEFINITION OF STEM.—In this section, the 

26 term ‘‘STEM’’ has the meaning given the term in section 


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1 2 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 

2 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621 note). 

3 SEC. 3. COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON FED4 ERAL RESEARCH GRANTS. 

5 (a) COLLECTION OF DATA.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal science agency 

7 shall collect standardized record-level annual infor8 mation on demographics, primary field, award type, 

9 review rating, budget request, funding outcome, and 

10 awarded budget for all applications for merit-re11 viewed research and development grants to institu12 tions of higher education and Federal laboratories 

13 supported by that agency. 

14 (2) UNIFORMITY AND STANDARDIZATION.—The 

15 Director shall establish a policy to ensure uniformity 

16 and standardization of the data collection required 

17 under paragraph (1). 

18 (3) RECORD-LEVEL DATA.— 

19 (A) REQUIREMENT.—On an annual basis, 

20 beginning with the deadline under subpara21 graph (C), each Federal science agency shall 

22 submit to the Director of the National Science 

23 Foundation record-level data collected under 

24 paragraph (1) in the form required by such Di25 rector. 


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1 (B) PREVIOUS DATA.—As part of the first 

2 submission under subparagraph (A), each Fed3 eral science agency, to the extent practicable, 

4 shall submit comparable record-level data for 

5 the 5 years preceding the deadline under sub6 paragraph (C). 

7 (C) DEADLINE.—The deadline under this 

8 paragraph is not later than 1 year after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act. 

10 (b) REPORTING OF DATA.—The Director of the Na11 tional Science Foundation shall publish statistical sum12 mary data collected under this section, disaggregated and 

13 cross-tabulated demographically and by years since com14 pletion of doctoral degree, including in conjunction with 

15 the National Science Foundation’s report required by sec16 tion 37 of the Science and Technology Equal Opportuni17 ties Act (42 U.S.C. 1885d; Public Law 96–516). 

18 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 (1) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

20 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

21 Policy. 

22 (2) FEDERAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Fed23 eral laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term in 

24 section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno25 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703). 


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1 (3) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 

2 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any Federal agency 

3 with at least $100,000,000 in research and develop4 ment expenditures in fiscal year 2017. 

5 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

6 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

7 meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 

8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

Æ 


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