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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4483 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4483

To authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation to provide 
    grants to institutions of higher education for implementing or 
 expanding reforms in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, 
  and mathematics (STEM) education in order to increase the number of 
  students from underrepresented minority groups receiving degrees in 
these fields, and to recruit, retain, and advance STEM faculty members 
    from underrepresented minority groups at institutions of higher 
                               education.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 24, 2012

Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas (for herself, Ms. Wilson of Florida, 
Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Reyes, Mr. Rush, Mr. Conyers, 
Mr. Lujan, Mr. Hinojosa, and Ms. Fudge) introduced the following bill; 
 which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation to provide 
    grants to institutions of higher education for implementing or 
 expanding reforms in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, 
  and mathematics (STEM) education in order to increase the number of 
  students from underrepresented minority groups receiving degrees in 
these fields, and to recruit, retain, and advance STEM faculty members 
    from underrepresented minority groups at institutions of higher 
                               education.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Broadening Participation in STEM 
Education Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) One of the National Science Foundation's core missions 
        is ``to achieve excellence in U.S. science, technology, 
        engineering and mathematics (STEM) education''.
            (2) STEM education at the undergraduate level is vital to 
        developing a workforce that will allow the United States to 
        remain the leader in the 21st century global economy.
            (3) In 2007, underrepresented minority groups comprised 
        33.2 percent of the college-age population of the United 
        States, but only 17.7 percent of undergraduate students earning 
        bachelor's degrees in STEM fields.
            (4) The Higher Education Research Institute at the 
        University of California, Los Angeles, found that, while 
        freshmen from underrepresented minority groups express an 
        interest in pursuing a STEM undergraduate degree at the same 
        rate as all other freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino 
        students, 18.4 percent of African-American students, and 18.8 
        percent of Native American students studying in STEM fields 
        complete their degree within 5 years, compared to an 
        approximate 33 percent and 42 percent 5-year completion rate 
        for White and Asian students, respectively.
            (5) Statistics are particularly alarming in specific STEM 
        fields. For example, even though underrepresented minorities 
        make up approximately 33 percent of the college-age population, 
        according to an analysis of National Science Foundation data 
        performed by the National Action Council for Minorities in 
        Engineering, students from underrepresented minority groups 
        earned only 13 percent of all engineering degrees in 2009.
            (6) Underrepresented minority groups currently make up 
        about 29 percent of the United States population. However, only 
        about 8 percent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty 
        members at universities and 4-year colleges and less than 1 
        percent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty members 
        at the top 100 research universities in the United States are 
        from underrepresented minority groups.
            (7) Students from underrepresented minority groups at 
        institutions of higher education who see few others ``like 
        themselves'' among faculty and student populations often do not 
        experience the social integration that is necessary for success 
        in all disciplines, including STEM.
            (8) The ability to connect students and faculty members 
        from underrepresented minority groups has been demonstrated to 
        be successful in increasing the achievement level of students 
        from underrepresented minority groups studying in STEM fields.
            (9) The United States faces a demographic challenge with 
        regard to STEM education: by 2050, 52 percent of the college-
        age population of the United States will be from 
        underrepresented minority groups.
            (10) If the percentage of students from underrepresented 
        minority groups earning bachelor's degrees in STEM fields does 
        not significantly increase, the United States will face an 
        acute shortfall in the overall number of students who earn 
        degrees in STEM fields.
            (11) With this impending shortfall, and with the number of 
        citizens of other countries earning degrees in STEM fields 
        increasing, the comparative advantage of the United States STEM 
        workforce will diminish, and the United States will almost 
        certainly lose its competitive edge in the 21st century global 
        economy.

SEC. 3. FOUNDATION SUPPORT FOR BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN 
              UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION.

    (a) Grants.--The Director shall award grants to institutions of 
higher education (or consortia thereof) to implement or expand 
research-based reforms in undergraduate STEM education for the purpose 
of recruiting and retaining students from minority groups who are 
underrepresented in STEM fields.
    (b) Merit Review; Competition.--Grants shall be awarded under this 
section on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis.
    (c) Use of Funds.--Activities supported by grants under this 
section may include--
            (1) implementation or expansion of innovative, research-
        based approaches to broaden participation of underrepresented 
        minority groups in STEM fields;
            (2) implementation or expansion of bridge, cohort, 
        tutoring, or mentoring programs designed to enhance the 
        recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented 
        minority groups in STEM fields;
            (3) implementation or expansion of outreach programs 
        linking institutions of higher education and K-12 school 
        systems in order to heighten awareness among pre-college 
        students from underrepresented minority groups of opportunities 
        in college-level STEM fields and STEM careers;
            (4) implementation or expansion of faculty development 
        programs focused on improving retention of undergraduate STEM 
        students from underrepresented minority groups;
            (5) implementation or expansion of mechanisms designed to 
        recognize and reward faculty members who demonstrate a 
        commitment to increasing the participation of students from 
        underrepresented minority groups in STEM fields;
            (6) expansion of successful reforms aimed at increasing the 
        number of STEM students from underrepresented minority groups 
        beyond a single course or group of courses to achieve reform 
        within an entire academic unit, or expansion of successful 
        reform efforts beyond a single academic unit to other STEM 
        academic units within an institution of higher education;
            (7) expansion of opportunities for students from 
        underrepresented minority groups to conduct STEM research in 
        industry, at Federal labs, and at international research 
        institutions or research sites;
            (8) provision of stipends for students from 
        underrepresented minority groups participating in research;
            (9) support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows 
        from underrepresented minority groups to participate in 
        instructional or assessment activities at primarily 
        undergraduate institutions, including primarily undergraduate 
        minority-serving institutions and two-year institutions of 
        higher education; and
            (10) other activities consistent with subsection (a), as 
        determined by the Director.
    (d) Selection Process.--
            (1) Application.--An institution of higher education (or 
        consortia thereof) seeking a grant under this section shall 
        submit an application to the Director at such time, in such 
        manner, and containing such information and assurances as the 
        Director may require. The application shall include, at a 
        minimum--
                    (A) a description of the proposed reform effort;
                    (B) a description of the research findings that 
                will serve as the basis for the proposed reform effort 
                or, in the case of applications that propose an 
                expansion of a previously implemented reform, a 
                description of the previously implemented reform 
                effort, including data about the recruitment, 
                retention, and academic achievement of students from 
                underrepresented minority groups;
                    (C) evidence of an institutional commitment to, and 
                support for, the proposed reform effort, including a 
                long-term commitment to implement successful strategies 
                from the current reform beyond the academic unit or 
                units included in the grant proposal;
                    (D) a description of existing or planned 
                institutional policies and practices regarding faculty 
                hiring, promotion, tenure, and teaching assignment that 
                reward faculty contributions to improving the education 
                of students from underrepresented minority groups in 
                STEM; and
                    (E) how the success and effectiveness of the 
                proposed reform effort will be evaluated and assessed 
                in order to contribute to the national knowledge base 
                about models for catalyzing institutional change.
            (2) Review of applications.--In selecting grant recipients 
        under this section, the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
                    (A) the likelihood of success of the proposed 
                reform effort at the institution submitting the 
                application, including the extent to which the faculty, 
                staff, and administrators of the institution are 
                committed to making the proposed institutional reform a 
                priority of the participating academic unit or units;
                    (B) the degree to which the proposed reform effort 
                will contribute to change in institutional culture and 
                policy such that greater value is placed on faculty 
                engagement in the retention of students from 
                underrepresented minority groups;
                    (C) the likelihood that the institution will 
                sustain or expand the proposed reform effort beyond the 
                period of the grant; and
                    (D) the degree to which evaluation and assessment 
                plans are included in the design of the proposed reform 
                effort.
            (3) Priority.--For applications that include an expansion 
        of existing reforms beyond a single academic unit, the Director 
        shall give priority to applications for which a senior 
        institutional administrator, such as a dean or other 
        administrator of equal or higher rank, serves as the principal 
        investigator.
            (4) Grant distribution.--The Director shall ensure, to the 
        extent practicable, that grants awarded under this section are 
        made to a variety of types of institutions of higher education, 
        including two-year and minority-serving institutions of higher 
        education.
    (e) Education Research.--
            (1) In general.--All grants made under this section shall 
        include an education research component that will support the 
        design and implementation of a system for data collection and 
        evaluation of proposed reform efforts in order to build the 
        knowledge base on promising models for increasing recruitment 
        and retention of students from underrepresented minority groups 
        in STEM education at the undergraduate level across a diverse 
        set of institutions.
            (2) Dissemination.--The Director shall coordinate with 
        relevant Federal agencies in disseminating the results of the 
        research under this subsection to ensure that best practices in 
        broadening participation in STEM education at the undergraduate 
        level are made readily available to all institutions of higher 
        education, other Federal agencies that support STEM programs, 
        non-Federal funders of STEM education, and the general public.

SEC. 4. FOUNDATION SUPPORT FOR INCREASING DIVERSITY AMONG STEM FACULTY 
              AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.

    (a) Grants.--The Director shall award grants to institutions of 
higher education (or consortia thereof) for the development of 
innovative reform efforts designed to increase the recruitment, 
retention, and advancement of individuals from underrepresented 
minority groups in academic STEM careers.
    (b) Merit Review; Competition.--Grants shall be awarded under this 
section on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis.
    (c) Use of Funds.--Activities supported by grants under this 
section may include--
            (1) institutional assessment activities, such as data 
        analyses and policy review, in order to identify and address 
        specific issues in the recruitment, retention, and advancement 
        of faculty members from underrepresented minority groups;
            (2) implementation of institution-wide improvements in 
        workload distribution, such that faculty members from 
        underrepresented minority groups are not disadvantaged in the 
        amount of time available to focus on research, publishing 
        papers, and engaging in other activities required to achieve 
        tenure status and run a productive research program;
            (3) development and implementation of training courses for 
        administrators and search committee members to ensure that 
        candidates from underrepresented minority groups are not 
        subject to implicit biases in the search and hiring process;
            (4) development and hosting of intra- or inter-
        institutional workshops to propagate best practices in 
        recruiting, retaining, and advancing faculty members from 
        underrepresented minority groups;
            (5) professional development opportunities for faculty 
        members from underrepresented minority groups;
            (6) activities aimed at making undergraduate STEM students 
        from underrepresented minority groups aware of opportunities 
        for academic careers in STEM fields;
            (7) activities to identify and engage exceptional graduate 
        students from underrepresented minority groups at various 
        stages of their studies and to encourage them to enter academic 
        careers; and
            (8) other activities consistent with subsection (a), as 
        determined by the Director.
    (d) Selection Process.--
            (1) Application.--An institution of higher education (or 
        consortia thereof) seeking funding under this subsection shall 
        submit an application to the Director at such time, in such 
        manner, and containing such information and assurances as the 
        Director may require. The application shall include, at a 
        minimum, a description of--
                    (A) the reform effort that is being proposed for 
                implementation by the institution of higher education;
                    (B) any available evidence of specific difficulties 
                in the recruitment, retention, and advancement of 
                faculty members from underrepresented minority groups 
                in STEM academic careers within the institution of 
                higher education submitting an application, and how the 
                proposed reform effort would address such issues;
                    (C) how the institution of higher education 
                submitting an application plans to sustain the proposed 
                reform effort beyond the duration of the grant; and
                    (D) how the success and effectiveness of the 
                proposed reform effort will be evaluated and assessed 
                in order to contribute to the national knowledge base 
                about models for catalyzing institutional change.
            (2) Review of applications.--In selecting grant recipients 
        under this section, the Director shall consider, at a minimum--
                    (A) the likelihood of success in undertaking the 
                proposed reform effort at the institution of higher 
                education submitting the application, including the 
                extent to which the administrators of the institution 
                are committed to making the proposed reform effort a 
                priority;
                    (B) the degree to which the proposed reform effort 
                will contribute to change in institutional culture and 
                policy such that greater value is placed on the 
                recruitment, retention, and advancement of faculty 
                members from underrepresented minority groups;
                    (C) the likelihood that the institution of higher 
                education will sustain or expand the proposed reform 
                effort beyond the period of the grant; and
                    (D) the degree to which evaluation and assessment 
                plans are included in the design of the proposed reform 
                effort.
            (3) Grant distribution.--The Director shall ensure, to the 
        extent practicable, that grants awarded under this section are 
        made to a variety of types of institutions of higher education.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the National Science Foundation.
            (2) Foundation.--The term ``Foundation'' means the National 
        Science Foundation established under section 2 of the National 
        Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1861).
            (3) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1001(a)).
            (4) STEM.--The term ``STEM'' means the academic and 
        professional disciplines of science, technology, engineering, 
        and mathematics.
                                 <all>
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