II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3564 

To promote the potential of women in academic science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 12, 2010 

Mr. UDALL of New Mexico introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote the potential of women in academic science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FULFILLING THE POTENTIAL OF WOMEN IN 

4 ACADEMIC SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGI5 NEERING, AND MATHEMATICS. 

6 (a) DEFINITION OF FEDERAL STEM AGENCY.—In 

7 this Act, the term ‘‘Federal STEM agency’’ means any 

8 Federal agency that is responsible for not less than 2 per9 cent of total Federal research and development funding 

10 in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (reVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:23 Jul 13, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3564.IS S3564

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1 ferred to in this Act as ‘‘STEM’’) to institutions of higher 

2 education, according to the most recent data available 

3 from the National Science Foundation. 

4 (b) WORKSHOPS TO ENHANCE GENDER EQUITY IN

5 ACADEMIC STEM.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec8 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Direc9 tor of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 

10 shall develop a uniform policy for all Federal STEM 

11 agencies to carry out a program of workshops that 

12 educate program officers, members of grant review 

13 panels, and institution of higher education STEM 

14 department chairs on how to implement methods 

15 that minimize the influence of gender bias in evalua16 tion of Federal research grants and in the related 

17 academic advancement of actual and potential recipi18 ents of these grants, including hiring, tenure, pro19 motion, and selection for any honor based in part on 

20 the recipient’s research record. 

21 (2) INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.—The Sec22 retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Direc23 tor of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 

24 shall ensure that programs of workshops across the 

25 Federal STEM agencies are coordinated and supVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:19 Jul 12, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3564.IS S3564

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1 ported jointly as appropriate. As part of this proc2 ess, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 

3 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

4 Policy, shall ensure that at least 1 workshop is sup5 ported every 2 years among the Federal STEM 

6 agencies. 

7 (3) ORGANIZATIONS ELIGIBLE TO CARRY OUT

8 WORKSHOPS.—Federal STEM agencies may carry 

9 out the program of workshops under this subsection 

10 by making grants to eligible organizations. In addi11 tion to any other organizations made eligible by the 

12 Federal STEM agencies, the following organizations 

13 are eligible for grants under this subsection: 

14 (A) Nonprofit scientific and professional 

15 societies and organizations that represent 1 or 

16 more STEM disciplines. 

17 (B) Nonprofit organizations that have a 

18 primary mission or program focus of advancing 

19 the participation of women in STEM. 

20 (4) CHARACTERISTICS OF WORKSHOPS.—The 

21 workshops shall have the following characteristics: 

22 (A) Invitees to workshops shall include at 

23 least— 

24 (i) the chairs of departments in the 

25 relevant discipline from at least the top 50 


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1 institutions of higher education, as deter2 mined by the amount of Federal STEM re3 search and development funds obligated to 

4 each institution of higher education in the 

5 prior year based on data available from the 

6 National Science Foundation; 

7 (ii) members of any standing research 

8 grant review panel appointed by the Fed9 eral STEM agencies; and 

10 (iii) Federal STEM agency program 

11 officers in the relevant discipline, other 

12 than program officers that participate in 

13 comparable workshops organized and run 

14 specifically for that agency’s program offi15 cers. 

16 (B) Activities at the workshops shall in17 clude research presentations and interactive dis18 cussions or other activities that increase the 

19 awareness of the influence of gender bias in the 

20 grant-making process and the development of 

21 the academic record necessary to qualify as a 

22 grant recipient, including recruitment, hiring, 

23 tenure review, promotion, and other forms of 

24 formal recognition of individual achievement. 


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1 (C) Research presentations and other 

2 workshop programs, as appropriate, shall in3 clude a discussion of the unique challenges 

4 faced by women who are members of histori5 cally underrepresented groups and rec6 ommendations for increasing the numbers of 

7 women represented in these groups. 

8 (5) REPORT.—Not later than 3 years after the 

9 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

10 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall trans11 mit to the Secretary of Commerce who shall trans12 mit to the Committee on Science and Technology of 

13 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

14 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen15 ate a report determining— 

16 (A) the effectiveness of the program car17 ried out under this subsection to reduce gender 

18 bias towards women engaged in STEM research 

19 funded by the Federal Government; 

20 (B) any recommendations for improving 

21 the workshop evaluation process; 

22 (C) the rates of participation by invitees in 

23 the workshops authorized under this subsection; 

24 and 


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1 (D) any relevant institutional policy or 

2 practice changes implemented by workshop par3 ticipants. 

4 (6) MINIMIZING COSTS.—To the extent prac5 ticable, workshops shall be held in conjunction with 

6 national or regional disciplinary meetings to mini7 mize costs associated with participant travel. 

8 (c) EXTENDED RESEARCH GRANT SUPPORT AND IN9 TERIM TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR CAREGIVERS.— 

10 (1) POLICIES FOR CAREGIVERS.—Not later 

11 than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 

12 Act, the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with 

13 the Director of the Office of Science and Technology 

14 Policy, shall develop a uniform policy to extend the 

15 period of grant support for federally funded re16 searchers who have caregiving responsibilities. 

17 (2) REPORT.—Upon developing the policy re18 quired under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Com19 merce, in consultation with the Director of the Of20 fice of Science and Technology Policy, shall transmit 

21 a copy of the policy to the Committee on Science 

22 and Technology of the House of Representatives and 

23 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans24 portation of the Senate. 


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1 (d) COLLECTION AND REPORTING OF DATA ON FED2 ERAL RESEARCH GRANTS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal STEM agency 

4 shall collect standardized annual composite informa5 tion on demographics for all applications and pro6 posals for STEM research and development grants 

7 to institutions of higher education supported by that 

8 agency, including— 

9 (A) rank, gender, race, and age; 

10 (B) field; 

11 (C) award type and budget request; 

12 (D) review score; and 

13 (E) funding outcome. 

14 (2) REPORTING OF DATA.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Com16 merce, in consultation with the Director of the 

17 Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall 

18 establish a policy to ensure uniformity and 

19 standardization of collection, transmittal, and 

20 reporting of the data required under paragraph 

21 (1). 

22 (B) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 2 years 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, and an24 nually thereafter, each Federal STEM agency 

25 shall submit data collected under paragraph (1) 


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1 to the Director of the National Science Founda2 tion. 

3 (C) RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE NATIONAL

4 SCIENCE FOUNDATION.—The Director of the 

5 National Science Foundation shall— 

6 (i) be responsible for storing and pub7 lishing all of the grant data submitted 

8 under subparagraph (B), in conjunction 

9 with the biennial report required under 

10 section 37 of the Science and Engineering 

11 Equal Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 

12 1885d); and 

13 (ii) share such data with the Sec14 retary of Commerce. 

15 (e) COLLECTION OF DATA ON DEMOGRAPHICS OF

16 FACULTY.— 

17 (1) COLLECTION OF DATA.—The Director of 

18 the National Science Foundation (referred to in this 

19 subsection as the ‘‘Director’’) shall report, in con20 junction with the biennial report required under sec21 tion 37 of the Science and Engineering Equal Op22 portunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885d), statistical sum23 mary data on the demographics of STEM discipline 

24 faculty at institutions of higher education in the 


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1 United States. At a minimum, the Director shall 

2 consider— 

3 (A) the number and percentage of faculty 

4 by gender, race, and age; 

5 (B) the number and percentage of faculty 

6 at each rank, by gender, race, and age; 

7 (C) the number and percentage of faculty 

8 who are in nontenure-track positions, including 

9 teaching and research, by gender, race, and 

10 age; 

11 (D) the number of faculty who are re12 viewed for promotion, including tenure, and the 

13 percentage of that number who are promoted, 

14 by gender, race, and age; 

15 (E) faculty years in rank by gender, race, 

16 and age; 

17 (F) faculty attrition by gender, race, and 

18 age; 

19 (G) the number and percentage of faculty 

20 hired by rank, gender, race, and age; and 

21 (H) the number and percentage of faculty 

22 in leadership positions, including endowed or 

23 named chairs, serving on promotion and tenure 

24 committees, by gender, race, and age. 


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1 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Director shall 

2 solicit input and recommendations from relevant 

3 stakeholders, including representatives from institu4 tions of higher education and nonprofit organiza5 tions, on the collection of data required under para6 graph (1), including the development of standard 

7 definitions on the terms and categories to be used in 

8 the collection of such data. 

9 (3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 

10 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

11 Director shall submit a report to Congress on how 

12 the National Science Foundation will gather the de13 mographic data on STEM faculty, including— 

14 (A) a description of the data to be reported 

15 and the sources of those data; 

16 (B) justification for the exclusion of any 

17 data described in subparagraph (A); and 

18 (C) a list of the definitions for the terms 

19 and categories, such as ‘‘faculty’’ and ‘‘leader20 ship positions’’, to be applied in the reporting 

21 of all data described in subparagraph (A). 

Æ 


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