II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4018 

To enable high research activity status historically Black colleges or universities to increase capacity toward achieving very high research activity 

status. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 6, 2022 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services 

A BILL 

To enable high research activity status historically Black 

colleges or universities to increase capacity toward 

achieving very high research activity status. 

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 ‘‘HBCU Research, In5 novation, Security, and Excellence Act’’ or the ‘‘HBCU 

6 RISE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Historically Black colleges and universities 

2 hold a unique position in the efforts of the United 

3 States to diversify the science, technology, engineer4 ing, and mathematics academic and workforce com5 munities. 

6 (2) Even though our Nation’s historically Black 

7 colleges and universities make up just 3 percent of 

8 the colleges and universities in the United States, 

9 historically Black colleges and universities graduate 

10 25 percent of African-American students with bacca11 laureate degrees in the fields of science, technology, 

12 engineering, and mathematics. 

13 (3) Historically Black colleges and universities 

14 are the institution of origin for almost 30 percent of 

15 Black graduates of science and engineering doc16 torate programs. 

17 (4) The health of the Department of Defense 

18 and the United States research ecosystem relies on 

19 high quality researchers from a diverse talent pool. 

20 (5) Historically Black colleges and universities 

21 have a history of conducting high quality research in 

22 unique areas, both providing impactful research out23 comes and developing the next generation of the re24 search ecosystem, such as by— 


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1 (A) conducting high quality research in 

2 unique areas that has enriched the Department 

3 of Defense research enterprise and the United 

4 States research ecosystem; 

5 (B) strengthening and diversifying the 

6 United States research ecosystem by increasing 

7 the number of students who are students of di8 verse backgrounds from historically Black col9 leges and universities with undergraduate or 

10 graduate degrees in science, technology, engi11 neering, or mathematics; and 

12 (C) fueling domestic and international col13 laborations that led to trailblazing discoveries 

14 and innovative technologies. 

15 (6) In 2019, historically Black colleges and uni16 versities received $371,000,000, or about 0.8 percent 

17 of the $44,500,000,000 in Federal funding to insti18 tutions of higher education for research and develop19 ment. The amount of funding for 2019 is a marked 

20 decrease from fiscal year 2018, when historically 

21 Black colleges and universities received 

22 $400,000,000 in Federal research and development 

23 funding (0.9 percent of the Federal funding to insti24 tutions of higher education for such purposes). 


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1 (7) There are no historically Black colleges and 

2 universities designated as very high research activity 

3 status, as classified by the Carnegie Classification of 

4 Institutions of Higher Education. 

5 (8) Meaningfully investing in the research ca6 pacity of historically Black colleges and universities 

7 is an investment in our Nation’s future and will help 

8 meet accelerating science, technology, engineering, 

9 and mathematics workforce demands and safeguard 

10 the national security interests of the United States. 

11 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

12 The purpose of the program established under this 

13 Act is to provide additional pathways needed for further 

14 increasing capacity at historically Black colleges and uni15 versities to achieve very high research activity status. 

16 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) HIGH RESEARCH ACTIVITY STATUS.—The 

19 term ‘‘high research activity status’’ means such sta20 tus, as classified by the Carnegie Classification of 

21 Institutions of Higher Education. 

22 (2) HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNI23 VERSITY.—The term ‘‘historically Black college or 

24 university’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘part B 


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1 institution’’ under section 322 of the Higher Edu2 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1061). 

3 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Defense. 

5 (4) VERY HIGH RESEARCH ACTIVITY STATUS.— 

6 The term ‘‘very high research activity status’’ means 

7 such status, as classified by the Carnegie Classifica8 tion of Institutions of Higher Education. 

9 (5) VERY HIGH RESEARCH ACTIVITY STATUS

10 INDICATORS.—The term ‘‘very high research activity 

11 status indicators’’ means the categories used by the 

12 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher 

13 Education to delineate which institutions have very 

14 high activity status. These include— 

15 (A) annual expenditures in science and en16 gineering; 

17 (B) per-capita (faculty member) expendi18 tures in science and engineering; 

19 (C) annual expenditures in non-science and 

20 engineering fields; 

21 (D) per-capita (faculty member) expendi22 tures in non-science and engineering fields; 

23 (E) doctorates awarded in science, tech24 nology, engineering, and mathematics fields; 


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1 (F) doctorates awarded in social science 

2 fields; 

3 (G) doctorates awarded in the humanities; 

4 (H) doctorates awarded in other fields with 

5 a research emphasis; 

6 (I) total number of research staff including 

7 postdoctoral researchers; 

8 (J) other doctorate-holding non-faculty re9 searchers in science and engineering and per10 capita (faculty) number of doctorate-level re11 search staff including post-doctoral researchers; 

12 and 

13 (K) other categories utilized to determine 

14 classification. 

15 SEC. 5. PROGRAM TO INCREASE CAPACITY TOWARD 

16 ACHIEVING VERY HIGH RESEARCH ACTIVITY 

17 STATUS AT HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGES 

18 OR UNIVERSITIES. 

19 (a) PROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish and 

20 carry out, using funds made available for research activi21 ties, a pilot program to increase capacity at high research 

22 activity status (R2) historically Black colleges and univer23 sities toward achieving very high research activity status 

24 (R1) within a decade. In establishing such a pilot pro25 gram, the Secretary may consider the recommendations 


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1 pursuant to section 262 of the National Defense Author2 ization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116–92; 10 

3 U.S.C. 2362 note) and section 220 of the National De4 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 (Public Law 

5 117–81). 

6 (b) GRANTS.—In carrying out the program, the Sec7 retary shall award grants for key areas of scientific re8 search on a competitive, merit-reviewed basis to histori9 cally Black colleges or universities that are classified as 

10 high research activity status institutions at the time of ap11 plication for such a grant. 

12 (c) EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY.—The Secretary 

13 may expand the program to other historically Black col14 leges or universities beyond those historically Black col15 leges or universities classified as high research activity sta16 tus if the Secretary determines that the program can sup17 port such an expansion while achieving the purpose of the 

18 program, as described in section 3. 

19 (d) APPLICATION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

21 grant under this section, a historically Black college 

22 or university described in subsection (b) shall submit 

23 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such 

24 manner, and containing such information and assur25 ances as the Secretary may require. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—The application described in 

2 paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum, a de3 scription of— 

4 (A) nascent research capabilities and re5 search areas of interest to the Department of 

6 Defense; 

7 (B) a plan for increasing the level of re8 search activity toward achieving very high re9 search activity status classification within a 

10 decade of the grant award, including measur11 able milestones such as growth in very high re12 search activity status indicators and other rel13 evant factors; 

14 (C) how the institution of higher education 

15 will sustain the increased level of research activ16 ity beyond the duration of the award; and 

17 (D) how the implementation of the pro18 posed plan will be evaluated and assessed. 

19 (e) PROGRAM COMPONENTS.— 

20 (1) STRATEGIC AREAS OF SCIENTIFIC RE21 SEARCH.—In consultation with the Defense Science 

22 Board, the Secretary, or the Secretary’s designee, 

23 shall establish annually a list of key areas of re24 search for which applicants can seek funding. 


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1 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—An institution that re2 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant 

3 funds to support research activities, including— 

4 (A) faculty professional development; 

5 (B) stipends for undergraduate and grad6 uate students and post-doctoral scholars; 

7 (C) laboratory equipment and instrumenta8 tion; 

9 (D) recruitment and retention of faculty 

10 and graduate students; 

11 (E) communication and dissemination of 

12 products produced during the funding period; 

13 (F) construction, modernization, rehabilita14 tion, or retrofitting of facilities for research 

15 purposes; and 

16 (G) other activities necessary to build ca17 pacity in research activity indicator areas. 

18 (3) RESEARCH ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary, 

19 in partnership with the institution, shall provide cri20 teria for assessing and evaluating progress related to 

21 the very high research activity indicators. 

22 (4) RESEARCH PROGRESS REPORTING.—An in23 stitution that receives a grant under this section 

24 shall submit to the Secretary a progress report and 

25 an updated plan described in subsection (d)(2)(B) 


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1 not less than once every 3 years, which shall be 

2 based on a self-assessment of progress in advancing 

3 in very high research activity indicators. 

4 (5) TRANSITION ELIGIBILITY.—The Secretary 

5 may consider creating pathways for new historically 

6 Black colleges or universities to enter into the pro7 gram under this section as participating institutions 

8 achieve very high research activity status. 

9 (f) EVALUATION.—Not later than 5 years after the 

10 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall pre11 pare and submit a report to the Committee on Armed 

12 Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Serv13 ices of the House of Representatives providing an update 

14 on the pilot program, including— 

15 (1) activities carried out under the pilot pro16 gram; 

17 (2) an analysis of the growth in very high re18 search activity status indicators of participating in19 stitutions; and 

20 (3) emerging research areas of interest to the 

21 Department of Defense conducted by participating 

22 institutions. 

23 (g) TERMINATION.—The pilot program established 

24 under this section shall terminate 10 years after the date 

25 on which the Secretary establishes such program. 


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1 (h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 180 days 

2 after the termination of the pilot program, the Secretary 

3 shall prepare and submit a report to the Committee on 

4 Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on 

5 Armed Services of the House of Representatives on the 

6 pilot program. Such report shall include the following ele7 ments: 

8 (1) An analysis of the growth in very high re9 search activity status indicators of participating in10 stitutions. 

11 (2) An evaluation on the effectiveness of the 

12 program in bolstering the research capacity of par13 ticipating institutions. 

14 (3) An assessment on how institutions that 

15 have achieved very high research activity status plan 

16 to sustain that status beyond the duration of the 

17 program. 

18 (4) An evaluation of the effectiveness of the 

19 program to increase diversity of students conducting 

20 high quality research in unique areas. 

21 (5) Recommendations on further activities and 

22 investments necessary to elevate the research status 

23 of historically Black colleges and universities. 


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1 (6) Recommendations on renewal or expansion 

2 of the program established under this section. 

Æ 


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