207 
eral STEM education programs, improve the return 
on taxpayers’ investments in STEM education pro-
grams, and in turn strengthen the United States 
economy. 
SEC. 
802. 
ADVANCED 
TECHNICAL 
EDUCATION 
AND 
SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) A National Academies of Science, Engineer-
ing, and Medicine report predicts a shortfall of near-
ly 3,400,000 skilled technical workers by 2022. 
(2) The National Science Foundation’s Ad-
vanced Technical Education program is critical to 
helping improve the training of the skilled technical 
workforce, with an emphasis on two-year Institutions 
of Higher Education (IHEs) and educating techni-
cians for the high-technology fields that drive our 
nation’s economy. 
(3) The National Science Board’s 2019 report 
on the skilled technical workforce called for 
strengthening partnerships between skilled technical 
workforce programs and business and industry. 
(b) ADVANCED TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM 
UPDATE.—Section 3(b) of the Scientific and Advanced- 
Technology Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 1862i(b)) is amended 
to read as follows: 
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‘‘(b) NATIONAL
COORDINATION
NETWORK
FOR 
SCIENCE
AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION.—The Director 
shall award grants to institutions of higher education, 
nonprofit institutions, associate-degree granting colleges 
(or consortia thereof) to establish a network of centers for 
science and technical education. The centers shall— 
‘‘(1) coordinate research, training and edu-
cation activities funded by awards under subsection 
(a) and share information and best practices across 
the network of awardees; 
‘‘(2) serve as national and regional clearing-
house and resource to communicate and coordinate 
research, training and educational activities across 
disciplinary, organizational, geographic and inter-
national boundaries and disseminate best practices; 
and 
‘‘(3) develop national and regional partnerships 
between K–12 schools, two-year colleges, institutions 
of higher education, workforce development pro-
grams, and industry to meet workforce needs.’’. 
(c) NSF PORTFOLIO REVIEW AND COORDINATION 
PLAN.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of 
the National Science Foundation shall conduct a full 
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portfolio analysis of the Foundation’s skilled tech-
nical workforce investments and develop a plan to 
improve coordination and collaboration of research 
and education investments and the communication 
of those funding opportunities to the research and 
education community. 
(2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the review and develop-
ment of the plan under paragraph (1) is complete, 
the Director of the National Science Foundation 
shall submit to Congress and make widely available 
to the public a summary of the portfolio review and 
plan. 
SEC. 803. GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM 
UPDATE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The National Science Foundation Graduate 
Research Fellowship Program is the nation’s oldest 
fellowship program that directly supports American 
graduate students in various STEM fields and is a 
model for training the best innovators in the United 
States. 
(2) Since 1952, NSF has funded over 50,000 
Graduate Research Fellowships out of more than 
500,000 applicants, 42 Fellows have gone on to be-
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come Nobel laureates, and more than 450 have be-
come members of the National Academy of Sciences. 
(3) Foreign nations are increasingly investing 
in foreign talent programs to compete with the 
United States. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the National Science Foundation should grow 
the number of new graduate research fellows supported 
annually over the next 10 years to no less than 3,000 fel-
lows. 
(c) PROGRAM UPDATE.—Section 10 of the National 
Science Foundation Act of 1950 (42 U.S.C. 1869) is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and as will 
address national workforce demand in critical STEM 
fields’’ after ‘‘throughout the United States’’; 
(2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘of $12,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘$16,000’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) OUTREACH.—The Director shall ensure program 
outreach to recruit fellowship applicants from fields of 
study that are in areas of critical national need, from all 
regions of the country, and from historically underrep-
resented populations in STEM.’’. 
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SEC. 804. ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PRO-
GRAM SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Pro-
gram plays an important role in supporting the de-
velopment and dissemination of evidence-based 
teacher preparation models and the recruitment, 
preparation, and retention of STEM educators; 
(2) the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Pro-
gram improves recruitment of underrepresented and 
STEM-trained students into teaching, encourages 
teachers to work in high-need areas, and can im-
prove relationships between teacher preparation pro-
grams and industry; and 
(3) the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Pro-
gram which currently supports between 1,000 to 
1,500 new math and science teachers a year, includ-
ing in high-need districts should be doubled over the 
next ten years to meet the growing demand for 
STEM capable educators. 
SEC. 805. INNOVATIONS IN INFORMAL STEM LEARNING. 
(a) PERMISSIBLE SUPPORT.—Section 3(b) of the 
STEM Education Act of 2015 (42 U.S.C. 1862q(b)) is 
amended— 
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘; and’’ at the 
end and inserting a semicolon; 
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