116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 153 

AN ACT 

To promote veteran involvement in STEM education, computer science, and scientific research, 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, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Veterans 

3 in STEM Careers Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

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

7 the Director of the National Science Foundation. 

8 (2) FOUNDATION.—The term ‘‘Foundation’’ 

9 means the National Science Foundation. 

10 (3) STEM.—The term ‘‘STEM’’ has the mean11 ing given the term in section 2 of the America COM12 PETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

13 6621 note). 

14 (4) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the 

15 meaning given the term in section 101 of title 38, 

16 United States Code. 

17 SEC. 3. SUPPORTING VETERANS IN STEM EDUCATION AND 

18 COMPUTER SCIENCE. 

19 (a) SUPPORTING VETERAN INVOLVEMENT IN SCI20 ENTIFIC RESEARCH AND STEM EDUCATION.—The Di21 rector shall, through the research and education activities 

22 of the Foundation, encourage veterans to study and pur23 sue careers in STEM and computer science, in coordina24 tion with other Federal agencies that serve veterans. 

25 (b) VETERAN OUTREACH PLAN.—Not later than 180 

26 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 
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1 shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

2 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com3 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

4 Senate a plan for how the Foundation can enhance its out5 reach efforts to veterans. Such plan shall— 

6 (1) report on the Foundation’s existing out7 reach activities; 

8 (2) identify the best method for the Foundation 

9 to leverage existing authorities and programs to fa10 cilitate and support veterans in STEM careers and 

11 studies, including teaching programs; and 

12 (3) include options for how the Foundation 

13 could track veteran participation in research and 

14 education programs of the Foundation, and describe 

15 any barriers to collecting such information. 

16 (c) NATIONAL SCIENCE BOARD INDICATORS RE17 PORT.—The National Science Board shall provide in its 

18 annual report on indicators of the state of science and en19 gineering in the United States any available and relevant 

20 data on veterans in science and engineering careers or 

21 education programs. 

22 (d) ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PRO23 GRAM UPDATE.—Section 10 of the National Science 

24 Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n– 

25 1) is amended— 
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1 (1) in subsection (a)(5)— 

2 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

3 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

4 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 

5 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(C) higher education programs that serve 

8 or support veterans.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (b)(2)(F)— 

10 (A) by striking ‘‘and students’’ and insert11 ing ‘‘, students’’; and 

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘, and veterans’’ before 

13 the period at the end; 

14 (3) in subsection (c)(2), by inserting ‘‘and vet15 erans’’ before the period at the end; and 

16 (4) in subsection (d)(2), by inserting ‘‘and vet17 erans’’ before the period at the end. 

18 (e) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION TEACHING

19 FELLOWSHIPS AND MASTER TEACHING FELLOWSHIPS

20 UPDATE.—Section 10A(d) of the National Science Foun21 dation Authorization Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1862n– 

22 1a(d)) is amended— 

23 (1) in paragraph (3)(F)— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘and individuals’’ and in25 serting ‘‘, individuals’’; and 
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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘, and veterans’’ before 

2 the period at the end; and 

3 (2) in paragraph (4)(B), by inserting ‘‘and vet4 erans’’ before the period at the end. 

5 (f) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION COMPUTER

6 AND NETWORK SECURITY CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS

7 UPDATE.—Section 5(a) of the Cyber Security Research 

8 and Development Act (15 U.S.C. 7404(a)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and stu10 dents who are veterans’’ after ‘‘these fields’’; and 

11 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

13 at the end; 

14 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (J) as 

15 subparagraph (K); and 

16 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the 

17 following: 

18 ‘‘(J) creating opportunities for veterans to 

19 transition to careers in computer and network 

20 security; and’’. 

21 (g) GRADUATE TRAINEESHIPS IN COMPUTER AND

22 NETWORK SECURITY RESEARCH UPDATE.—Section 

23 5(c)(6)(C) of the Cyber Security Research and Develop24 ment Act (15 U.S.C. 7404(c)(6)(C)) is amended by insert25 ing ‘‘or veterans’’ after ‘‘disciplines’’. 
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1 (h) VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES STEM 

2 EDUCATION INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 

4 Science and Technology Policy shall establish, or 

5 designate, an interagency working group to improve 

6 veteran and military spouse equity and representa7 tion in STEM fields. 

8 (2) DUTIES OF INTERAGENCY WORKING

9 GROUP.—An interagency working group established 

10 under paragraph (1) shall develop and facilitate the 

11 implementation by participating agencies of a stra12 tegic plan, which shall— 

13 (A) specify and prioritize short- and long14 term objectives; 

15 (B) specify the common metrics that will 

16 be used by Federal agencies to assess progress 

17 toward achieving such objectives; 

18 (C) identify barriers veterans face in reen19 tering the workforce, including a lack of formal 

20 STEM education, career guidance, and the 

21 process of transferring military credits and 

22 skills to college credits; 

23 (D) identify barriers military spouses face 

24 in establishing careers in STEM fields; 
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1 (E) describe the approaches that each par2 ticipating agency will take to address adminis3 tratively the barriers described in subpara4 graphs (C) and (D); and 

5 (F) identify any barriers that require Fed6 eral or State legislative or regulatory changes in 

7 order to be addressed. 

8 (3) REPORT.—The Director of the Office of 

9 Science and Technology Policy shall— 

10 (A) not later than 1 year after the date of 

11 enactment of this Act, submit to Congress the 

12 strategic plan required under paragraph (2); 

13 and 

14 (B) include in the annual report required 

15 by section 101(d) of the America COMPETES 

16 Reauthorization Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 

17 6621(d)) a description of any progress made in 

18 carrying out the activities described in para19 graph (2) of this subsection. 

20 (4) SUNSET.—An interagency working group 

21 established under paragraph (1) shall terminate on 

22 the date that is 3 years after the date that it is es23 tablished. 
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1 SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES 

2 STUDY AND REPORT ON BARRIERS FACED BY 

3 STUDENT VETERANS PURSUING DEGREES IN 

4 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, OR 

5 MATH. 

6 (a) STUDY.—Not later than August 1, 2022, the 

7 Comptroller General of the United States shall complete 

8 a study on academic success rates of student veterans pur9 suing covered degrees and barriers faced by such students 

10 in pursuing such degrees. 

11 (b) ELEMENTS.—The study required by subsection 

12 (a) shall include the following: 

13 (1) Assessment of available information on the 

14 percentage or number of student veterans pursuing 

15 a covered degree with educational assistance fur16 nished under chapter 33 of title 38, United States 

17 Code. 

18 (2) Assessment of available information on the 

19 percentage or number of such students who pursue 

20 a covered degree and do not obtain such degree in 

21 four or fewer academic years. 

22 (3) Identification of the reasons that such stu23 dents do not obtain such degree in four or fewer 

24 academic years and whether such reasons are bar25 riers to obtaining such degrees. 
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1 (4) Development of recommendations for legis2 lative or administrative action to better align the 

3 educational assistance furnished under chapter 33 of 

4 title 38, United States Code, with the needs of such 

5 students and address the reasons identified under 

6 paragraph (3). 

7 (c) REPORT.—Not later than August 1, 2022, the 

8 Comptroller General shall submit to Congress a report on 

9 the findings of the Comptroller General with respect to 

10 the study completed under subsection (a), along with rec11 ommendations for such legislative or administrative action 

12 as the Comptroller General considers appropriate. 

13 (d) DEFINITION OF COVERED DEGREE.—In this sec14 tion, the term ‘‘covered degree’’ means a standard, under15 graduate college degree in a field listed under section 

16 3320(b)(4)(A)(i) of title 38, United States Code. 

Passed the Senate December 18, 2019. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 153 

AN ACT 

To promote veteran involvement in STEM eduand for other purposes. cation, computer science, and scientific research,