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Union Calendar No. 350 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4375 

[Report No. 115–471] 

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 

DECEMBER 18, 2017 

Additional sponsors: Ms. ESTY of Connecticut and Mrs. BUSTOS

DECEMBER 18, 2017 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 


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•HR 4375 RH

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. 


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•HR 4375 RH

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN STEM PROGRAM 

7 EFFECTIVENESS STUDY. 

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

9 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Na10 tional Science Foundation shall submit a report to Con11 gress on the effectiveness of all National Science Founda12 tion research and education programs for broadening the 

13 participation of women and other historically underrep14 resented individuals in STEM studies and careers, includ15 ing— 

16 (1) development or identification of perform17 ance metrics to evaluate such programs; 

18 (2) information on student outcomes using all 

19 available data, including dropout rates, enrollment in 

20 graduate programs, internships or apprenticeships, 

21 and employment; 

22 (3) identification of any data gaps for evalu23 ating the effectiveness and outcomes of National 

24 Science Foundation programs to broaden participa25 tion; and 


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1 (4) recommendations for maintaining, trans2 lating, and disseminating outcomes data for STEM 

3 programs funded by the National Science Founda4 tion. 

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

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

7 2 of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 

8 2010 (42 U.S.C. 6621 note). 

9 SEC. 3. COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON FED10 ERAL RESEARCH GRANTS. 

11 (a) COLLECTION OF DATA.— 

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

13 shall collect standardized record-level annual infor14 mation on demographics, primary field, award type, 

15 review rating, budget request, funding outcome, and 

16 awarded budget for all applications for merit-re17 viewed research and development grants to institu18 tions of higher education and Federal laboratories 

19 supported by that agency. 

20 (2) UNIFORMITY AND STANDARDIZATION.—The 

21 Director shall establish a policy to ensure uniformity 

22 and standardization of the data collection required 

23 under paragraph (1). 

24 (3) RECORD-LEVEL DATA.— 


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

2 beginning with the deadline under subpara3 graph (C), each Federal science agency shall 

4 submit to the Director of the National Science 

5 Foundation record-level data collected under 

6 paragraph (1) in the form required by such Di7 rector. 

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

9 submission under subparagraph (A), each Fed10 eral science agency, to the extent practicable, 

11 shall submit comparable record-level data for 

12 the 5 years preceding the deadline under sub13 paragraph (C). 

14 (C) DEADLINE.—The deadline under this 

15 paragraph is not later than 1 year after the 

16 date of enactment of this Act. 

17 (b) REPORTING OF DATA.—The Director of the Na18 tional Science Foundation shall publish statistical sum19 mary data collected under this section, disaggregated and 

20 cross-tabulated demographically and by years since com21 pletion of doctoral degree, including in conjunction with 

22 the National Science Foundation’s report required by sec23 tion 37 of the Science and Technology Equal Opportuni24 ties Act (42 U.S.C. 1885d; Public Law 96–516). 

25 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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

2 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

3 Policy. 

4 (2) FEDERAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Fed5 eral laboratory’’ has the meaning given that term in 

6 section 4 of the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Inno7 vation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3703). 

8 (3) FEDERAL SCIENCE AGENCY.—The term 

9 ‘‘Federal science agency’’ means any Federal agency 

10 with at least $100,000,000 in research and develop11 ment expenditures in fiscal year 2017. 

12 (4) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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

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

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


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Union Calendar No. 350 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4375 

[Report No. 115–471] 

A BILL 

To provide for a study on broadening participation 

other purposes. eral research grants to science agencies, and for and education programs, to collect data on Fedin certain National Science Foundation research 

DECEMBER 18, 2017 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with BILLS