through doctorate degrees. In other STEM fields, 
women persist through doctorate degrees at a lower 
rate. In mathematics, women earn just 26 percent of 
doctorate degrees compared with 42 percent of un-
dergraduate degrees. Overall, women earned 38 per-
cent of STEM doctorate degrees in 2016. The rate 
of minority students earning STEM doctorate de-
grees in physics is 9 percent, compared with 15 per-
cent for bachelor’s degree. Students from underrep-
resented minority groups accounted for only 11.5 
percent of STEM doctorate degrees awarded in 
2016. 
(7) The representation of women in STEM 
drops significantly from the doctorate degree level to 
the faculty level. Overall, women hold only 26 per-
cent of all tenured and tenure-track positions and 27 
percent of full professor positions in STEM fields in 
our Nation’s universities and 4-year colleges. Black 
and Hispanic faculty together hold about 6.8 percent 
of all tenured and tenure-track positions and 7.5 
percent of full professor positions. Many of the num-
bers in the American Indian or Alaskan Native and 
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander cat-
egories for different faculty ranks were too small for 
the National Science Foundation to report publicly 
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without potentially compromising confidential infor-
mation about the individuals being surveyed. 
(8) The representation of women is especially 
low at our Nation’s top research universities. Even 
in the biological sciences, in which women now earn 
more than 50 percent of the doctorates and passed 
the 25 percent level 37 years ago, women make up 
only 25 percent of the full professors at the approxi-
mately 100 most research-intensive universities in 
the United States. In the physical sciences and 
mathematics, women make up only 11 percent of full 
professors, in computer sciences only 10 percent, 
and across engineering fields only 7 percent. The 
data suggest that approximately 6 percent of all ten-
ure-track STEM faculty members at the most re-
search-intensive universities are from underrep-
resented minority groups, but in some fields the 
numbers are too small to report publicly. 
(9) By 2050, underrepresented minorities will 
comprise 52 percent of the college-age population of 
the United States. If the percentage of female stu-
dents and students from underrepresented minority 
groups earning bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields 
does not significantly increase, the United States 
will face an acute shortfall in the overall number of 
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students who earn degrees in STEM fields just as 
United States companies are increasingly seeking 
students with those skills. With this impending 
shortfall, the United States will almost certainly lose 
its competitive edge in the 21st century global econ-
omy. 
(10) According to a 2014 Association for 
Women in Science survey of over 4,000 scientists 
across the globe, 70 percent of whom were men, 
STEM researchers face significant challenges in 
work-life integration. Researchers in the United 
States were among the most likely to experience a 
conflict between work and their personal life at least 
weekly. One-third of researchers surveyed said that 
ensuring good work-life integration has negatively 
impacted their careers, and, of researchers intending 
to leave their current job within the next year, 9 
percent indicated it was because they were unable to 
balance work and life demands. 
(11) Female students and students from under-
represented minority groups at institutions of higher 
education who see few others ‘‘like themselves’’ 
among faculty and student populations often do not 
experience the social integration that is necessary for 
success in all disciplines, including STEM. 
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(12) One in five children in the United States 
attend school in a rural community. The data shows 
that rural students are at a disadvantage with re-
spect to STEM readiness. Among STEM-interested 
students, 17 percent of students in rural high 
schools and 18 percent of students in town-located 
high schools meet the ACT STEM Benchmark, com-
pared with 33 percent of students in suburban high 
schools and 27 percent of students in urban high 
schools. 
(13) A substantial body of evidence establishes 
that most people hold implicit biases. Decades of 
cognitive psychology research reveal that most peo-
ple carry prejudices of which they are unaware but 
that nonetheless play a large role in evaluations of 
people and their work. Unintentional biases and out-
moded institutional structures are hindering the ac-
cess and advancement of women, minorities, and 
other groups historically underrepresented in STEM. 
(14) Workshops held to educate faculty about 
unintentional biases have demonstrated success in 
raising awareness of such biases. 
(15) In 2012, the Office of Diversity and Equal 
Opportunity of the National Aeronautics and Space 
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Administration (in this Act referred to as ‘‘NASA’’) 
completed a report that— 
(A) is specifically designed to help NASA 
grant recipients identify why the dearth of 
women in STEM fields continues and to ensure 
that it is not due to discrimination; and 
(B) provides guidance that is usable by all 
institutions of higher education receiving sig-
nificant Federal research funding on how to 
conduct meaningful self-evaluations of campus 
culture and policies. 
(16) The Federal Government provides 55 per-
cent of research funding at institutions of higher 
education and, through its grant-making policies, 
has had significant influence on institution of higher 
education policies, including policies related to insti-
tutional culture and structure. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are as follows: 
(1) To ensure that Federal science agencies and 
institutions of higher education receiving Federal re-
search and development funding are fully engaging 
their entire talent pool. 
(2) To promote research on, and increase un-
derstanding of, the participation and trajectories of 
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