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. 

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 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPA7 TION OF WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED 

8 MINORITIES IN STEM FIELDS. 

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


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1 (1) According to the National Academy of 

2 Sciences, STEM education at the undergraduate 

3 level is vital to developing a workforce that will allow 

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

5 century global economy. 

6 (2) According to the 2013 American Commu7 nity Survey Report on disparities in STEM employ8 ment, women comprise about half of the United 

9 States workforce but only make up 26 percent of 

10 STEM workers. 

11 (3) According to the National Center of Edu12 cation Statistics, women were more likely than men 

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

14 percent. 

15 (4) According to the 2010 Association of Amer16 ican University Women report ‘‘Why So Few?’’ ap17 proximately 52 percent of women in STEM fields 

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

19 is important for gender equality to increase the re20 tention of women in STEM fields, as women in 

21 STEM careers earn 33 percent more than those in 

22 non-STEM jobs, and have a smaller wage gap rel23 ative to men. 

24 (5) According to recent Census Bureau projec25 tions, minorities will account for 57 percent of the 


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1 United States population by 2060. According to the 

2 National Action Council for Minorities in Engineer3 ing, Inc., as the United States works to remain com4 petitive in the world of technological innovation, the 

5 United States should address the need to increase 

6 the number of individuals from underrepresented mi7 nority segments of the population who work in engi8 neering. 

9 (6) The Higher Education Research Institute at 

10 the University of California, Los Angeles, found 

11 that, while freshmen from underrepresented minority 

12 groups express an interest in pursuing a STEM un13 dergraduate degree at the same rate as all other 

14 freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino students, 18.4 

15 percent of African-American students, and 18.8 per16 cent of Native American students studying in STEM 

17 fields complete their degree within 5 years, com18 pared to an approximate 33 percent and 42 percent 

19 5-year completion rate for White and Asian stu20 dents, respectively. 

21 (7) According to the 2015 Asian Americans Ad22 vancing Justice report ‘‘Making America Work’’, 

23 data on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 

24 (AAPIs) on average hide the fact that some sub25 groups are underrepresented in STEM fields. For 


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

2 Laotian, 8 percent of Hmong, and 7 percent of Na3 tive Hawaiian and Pacific Islander workers hold 

4 STEM jobs, compared to 12 percent of the total 

5 American population holding STEM jobs. 

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

7 2013 American Community Survey, Southeast Asian 

8 Americans and Pacific Islanders have higher poverty 

9 rates and lower educational attainment rates com10 pared to the overall population. Fifteen percent of 

11 the overall population lives below the Federal pov12 erty level, while 21 percent of Pacific Islanders, 21 

13 percent of Cambodian, 26 percent of Hmong, 17 

14 percent of Laotian, and 16 percent of Vietnamese 

15 community members live in poverty. Compared to 29 

16 percent of the overall population with a bachelor’s 

17 degree or higher, members of Pacific Islanders, 

18 Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese commu19 nities only have a bachelor’s degree or higher at 

20 rates of 15 percent, 16 percent, 16 percent, 13 per21 cent, and 27 percent, respectively. Levels of poverty 

22 and postsecondary educational attainment correlate 

23 with these groups’ underrepresentation in STEM 

24 employment. Other Asian American and Pacific Is25 lander subgroups with similar poverty and eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Oct 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4528.IH H4528

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1 cational attainment rates are similarly underrep2 resented in STEM employment. 

3 (9) A 2014 National Center for Education Sta4 tistics study found that women and underrep5 resented minorities leave the STEM fields at higher 

6 rates than their counterparts, leading to a need to 

7 develop resources to retain these groups in the 

8 STEM fields. 

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

10 National Science Foundation shall award grants to eligible 

11 entities, on a competitive basis, to enable such eligible en12 tities to carry out the activities described in subsection (d), 

13 in order to increase the participation of women and under14 represented minorities in the fields of science, technology, 

15 engineering, and mathematics. 

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

17 to receive a grant under this section shall submit an appli18 cation to the National Science Foundation at such time, 

19 in such manner, and containing such information as the 

20 Director of the National Science Foundation may reason21 ably require. 

22 (d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—An eligible entity 

23 that receives a grant under this section shall use such 

24 grant funds to carry out one or more of the following ac25 tivities designed to increase the participation of women or 


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1 minorities underrepresented in science and engineering, or 

2 both: 

3 (1) Online workshops. 

4 (2) Mentoring programs that partner science, 

5 technology, engineering, or mathematics profes6 sionals with students. 

7 (3) Internships for undergraduate and graduate 

8 students in the fields of science, technology, engi9 neering, and mathematics. 

10 (4) Conducting outreach programs that provide 

11 elementary school and secondary school students 

12 with opportunities to increase their exposure to the 

13 fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathe14 matics. 

15 (5) Programs to increase the recruitment and 

16 retention of underrepresented faculty. 

17 (6) Such additional programs as the Director of 

18 the National Science Foundation may determine. 

19 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act— 

20 (1) the term ‘‘minority’’ means American In21 dian, Alaskan Native, Black (not of Hispanic ori22 gin), Hispanic (including persons of Mexican, Puerto 

23 Rican, Cuban, and Central or South American ori24 gin), Asian (including underrepresented subgroups), 

25 Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander origin subgroup, 


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1 or other ethnic group underrepresented in science 

2 and engineering; and 

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

4 engineering’’ means a minority group whose number 

5 of scientists and engineers per 10,000 population of 

6 that group is substantially below the comparable fig7 ure for scientists and engineers who are White and 

8 not of Hispanic origin, as determined by the Sec9 retary of Education under section 637.4(b) of title 

10 34, Code of Federal Regulations. 

11 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020, 2021, 2022, 

14 2023, and 2024. 

Æ 


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