SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘STEM Opportunities Act of 2013’’. 
(b) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Many reports over the past decade have 
found that it is critical to our Nation’s economic 
leadership and global competitiveness that we edu-
cate and train more scientists and engineers. 
(2) Research shows that women and minorities 
who are interested in STEM careers are lost at 
every educational transition, from high school on 
through full professorships. 
(3) According to data compiled by the National 
Science Foundation, women now earn about half of 
all science and engineering bachelor’s degrees, but 
major variations persist among fields. For example, 
women still receive only 20 percent of all bachelor’s 
degrees awarded in engineering and 10 percent in 
computer sciences. Based on Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics data, jobs in computing occupations are ex-
pected to account for 62 percent of the projected an-
nual growth of newly created STEM job openings 
from 2010 to 2020. 
(4) In 2007 underrepresented minority groups 
comprised 33.2 percent of the college-age population 
of the United States, but only 17.7 percent of un-
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dergraduate students earning bachelor’s degrees in 
STEM fields. The Higher Education Research Insti-
tute at the University of California, Los Angeles, 
found that, while freshmen from underrepresented 
minority groups express an interest in pursuing a 
STEM undergraduate degree at the same rate as all 
other freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino stu-
dents, 18.4 percent of African-American students, 
and 18.8 percent of Native American students 
studying in STEM fields complete their degree with-
in 5 years, compared to an approximate 33 percent 
and 42 percent 5-year completion rate for White and 
Asian students, respectively. 
(5) Statistics are particularly alarming in spe-
cific STEM fields. For example, even though under-
represented minorities make up approximately 33 
percent of the college-age population, according to 
an analysis of National Science Foundation data 
performed by the National Action Council for Mi-
norities in Engineering, students from underrep-
resented minority groups earned only 13 percent of 
all engineering degrees in 2009. 
(6) Even in science and engineering fields with 
a higher representation of women, such as the social 
and behavioral sciences, women remain underrep-
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resented among university faculty. According to data 
compiled by the National Science Foundation, for 
over 30 years women have made up over 30 percent 
of the doctorates awarded in social sciences and be-
havioral sciences and over 20 percent in the life 
sciences. Yet, at the top research institutions, only 
15.4 percent of the full professors in the social and 
behavioral sciences and 14.8 percent in the life 
sciences are women. 
(7) Underrepresented minority groups currently 
make up about 29 percent of the United States pop-
ulation. However, only about 8 percent of tenure- 
track science and engineering faculty members at 
universities and 4-year colleges and less than 1 per-
cent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty 
members at the top 100 research universities in the 
United States are from underrepresented minority 
groups. 
(8) 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. 
(9) According to a recent 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. 
(10) 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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(11) 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 and minorities in 
science and engineering. 
(12) Workshops held to educate faculty about 
unintentional biases have demonstrated success in 
raising awareness of such biases. 
(13) In 2012 the National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration’s Office of Diversity and 
Equal Opportunity completed a report 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. The 
report provides guidance to institutions of higher 
education on how to conduct meaningful self-evalua-
tions of campus culture and policies. This report and 
its guidance are equally applicable to all institutions 
of higher education receiving significant Federal re-
search funding. 
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