II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 771 

To emphasize manufacturing in engineering programs by directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in coordination with other 

appropriate Federal agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation, to designate 

United States manufacturing universities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 18, 2015 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. GRAHAM, Ms. AYOTTE, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and 

Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To emphasize manufacturing in engineering programs by 

directing the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in coordination with other appropriate Federal 

agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation, to 

designate United States manufacturing universities. 

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 ‘‘Manufacturing Univer5 sities Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MANUFACTURING UNIVERSITIES. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

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

4 the Director of the Institute of Standards and Tech5 nology. 

6 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

7 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

8 meaning given the term in section 101(a) of the 

9 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

10 (3) MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.—The term 

11 ‘‘manufacturing industry’’ means an industry de12 fined in North American Industry Classification Sys13 tem codes 31, 32, and 33. 

14 (4) UNITED STATES MANUFACTURING UNIVER15 SITY.—The term ‘‘United States manufacturing uni16 versity’’ means an institution of higher education 

17 that receives a designation from the Director under 

18 subsection (b)(1). 

19 (b) MANUFACTURING UNIVERSITY PROGRAM.— 

20 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—The Director is author21 ized to establish a program to designate an institu22 tion of higher education as a United States manu23 facturing university. The Director, in coordination 

24 with the heads of other Federal agencies (including 

25 the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Energy, 

26 and the Director of the National Science FoundaVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:12 Mar 21, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S771.IS S771

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1 tion), shall designate not more than 25 institutions 

2 of higher education as United States manufacturing 

3 universities. The Director shall award designations 

4 not earlier than January 1, 2016, and not later than 

5 March 31, 2016. 

6 (2) FUNDS PROVIDED.—An institution of high7 er education that receives a designation under para8 graph (1) shall be awarded $5,000,000 for each fis9 cal year for a 4-year period beginning in the fiscal 

10 year in which the institution of higher education re11 ceives the designation under paragraph (1). 

12 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds provided to an in13 stitution of higher education under this subsection 

14 shall be used to carry out the goals and meet the 

15 targets described in subsection (c)(2)(B). 

16 (c) APPLICATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—An institution of higher edu18 cation desiring a designation under subsection (b)(1) 

19 shall submit an application to the Director at such 

20 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in21 formation as the Director may reasonably require. 

22 (2) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted 

23 pursuant to paragraph (1) shall— 

24 (A) submit data describing, as of the date 

25 of submission of the application— 


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1 (i) the engineering programs offered 

2 by the institution of higher education, in3 cluding any focus on manufacturing engi4 neering and curricula related to manufac5 turing industries; 

6 (ii) current joint projects relating to 

7 engineering between firms in the manufac8 turing industry and the institution of high9 er education; 

10 (iii) the percentage of students in the 

11 engineering program of the institution of 

12 higher education who participated in for13 credit internship, cooperative education, or 

14 other similar programs with manufacturing 

15 firms in the most recent academic year for 

16 which information is available; 

17 (iv) the percentage of students en18 rolled at the institution of higher education 

19 who received a bachelor’s degree, a mas20 ter’s degree, or a doctoral degree in engi21 neering in the most recent academic year 

22 for which information is available, and a 

23 description of which engineering discipline 

24 each recipient of such degree studied; 


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1 (v) the amount and purpose of re2 search and development funding that man3 ufacturing firms have provided to the insti4 tution of higher education for each of the 

5 3 years preceding the date of submission of 

6 the application; 

7 (vi) the percentage of recent masters’ 

8 degree or doctoral degree graduates of the 

9 institution of higher education who have 

10 begun careers related to manufacturing 

11 and a description of— 

12 (I) the institution’s involvement 

13 in manufacturing startups; and 

14 (II) any new manufacturing busi15 nesses created by recent master’s de16 gree or doctoral degree graduates in 

17 the 3 years preceding the date of sub18 mission of the application; and 

19 (vii) the extent and a description of 

20 other programs at the institution of higher 

21 education related to manufacturing and 

22 entrepreneurship; and 

23 (B) submit a plan, including specific tar24 gets and goals to be achieved not later than 4 


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1 years after the date of designation under sub2 section (b)(1), describing— 

3 (i) how the engineering programs of4 fered by the institution of higher education 

5 will be improved to emphasize manufac6 turing engineering and curricula related to 

7 manufacturing industries; 

8 (ii) how the institution of higher edu9 cation will increase the number of joint 

10 projects relating to engineering between 

11 manufacturing firms and the institution of 

12 higher education; 

13 (iii) how the institution of higher edu14 cation will increase the number of students 

15 in the engineering program of the institu16 tion who participate in for-credit intern17 ship, cooperative education, or other simi18 lar programs in manufacturing firms; 

19 (iv) how the institution of higher edu20 cation will increase the number of students 

21 who are United States citizens or perma22 nent residents enrolled at the institution 

23 who receive a bachelor’s degree, a master’s 

24 degree, or a doctoral degree in engineering 

25 or applied science, in particular disciplines 


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1 related to manufacturing, including chem2 ical, electrical, mechanical, industrial, 

3 mechatronics, computer, biomedical, and 

4 nano engineering, as well as materials 

5 science, computer science, and applied 

6 mathematics; 

7 (v) how the institution of higher edu8 cation will cover the costs of equipment 

9 and facilities related to its proposal and 

10 how it will increase funding from industry 

11 for research and development related to 

12 manufacturing; 

13 (vi) how the institution of higher edu14 cation will increase the number of students 

15 who receive a degree from the institution 

16 of higher education who launch a new 

17 manufacturing business, as defined by the 

18 Bureau of Economic Analysis as the North 

19 American Industry Classification System 

20 code 3111 to 3399; 

21 (vii) how the institution of higher edu22 cation will oversee interdisciplinary pro23 grams relating to advancing manufacturing 

24 productivity and innovation across various 


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1 university colleges, departments, and pro2 grams; 

3 (viii) how the institution of higher 

4 education will designate an appropriate in5 dividual to oversee and coordinate the ac6 tivities committed to as a part of the uni7 versities outlined ‘‘manufacturing univer8 sity’’ plan who may be designated as a 

9 ‘‘Chief Manufacturing Officer’’; 

10 (ix) how the manufacturing engineer11 ing program can positively impact local 

12 and regional economic development; and 

13 (x) how the participating institutions 

14 and departments, particularly within engi15 neering and business, will recognize and 

16 reward faculty, including through decisions 

17 of tenure, for developing innovative new 

18 means to increase interactions with manu19 facturing companies. 

20 (d) ADMINISTRATION OF PROGRAM.— 

21 (1) GENERAL POLICIES.—The Director shall es22 tablish and publish general policies regarding— 

23 (A) review of applications; 


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1 (B) criteria for selection of institutions of 

2 higher education to receive a designation under 

3 subsection (b)(1); 

4 (C) procedures and criteria for the review 

5 required in paragraph (2); and 

6 (D) such other matters as the Director 

7 may prescribe. 

8 (2) REVIEW.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 

10 after the date an institution of higher education 

11 receives a designation under subsection (b)(1), 

12 the Director shall conduct a review of the 

13 progress the institution of higher education has 

14 made toward the targets and goals described in 

15 subsection (c)(2)(B). If the Director determines 

16 that the institution of higher education is mak17 ing adequate progress toward such targets and 

18 goals, funds provided under subsection (b)(1) 

19 shall continue for the remainder of the designa20 tion period. 

21 (B) PROGRESS REPORT.—Each institution 

22 of higher education receiving a designation 

23 under subsection (b)(1) shall submit a report 

24 each year that includes information on the 

25 progress the institution is making toward the 


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1 targets and goals described in subsection 

2 (c)(2)(B). 

3 (C) RENEWAL.—An institution of higher 

4 education receiving a designation under sub5 section (b)(1) shall not be eligible to receive 

6 funds under subsection (b)(2) after the expira7 tion of the 4-year period. 

8 (3) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than Sep9 tember 30 of each year, the Director shall submit to 

10 Congress a report that includes— 

11 (A) a list of the institutions of higher edu12 cation that have received a designation under 

13 subsection (b)(1); and 

14 (B) a description of the progress such in15 stitutions of higher education have made toward 

16 the targets and goals described in subsection 

17 (c)(2)(B). 

18 (e) ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.—Not later 

19 than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, 

20 the Director, in cooperation with the Administrator of the 

21 Small Business Administration, shall make recommenda22 tions on how the programs established under Phase III 

23 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 638), can be adapt24 ed to provide assistance to small businesses that collabo25 rate with United States manufacturing universities. 


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1 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated $125,000,000 for each 

3 of fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 to carry out 

4 the provisions of this section. 

Æ 


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