IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2528 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
OCTOBER 15, 2019 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions 
AN ACT 
To direct the Director of the Office of Science and Tech-
nology Policy to carry out programs and activities to 
ensure that Federal science agencies and institutions of 
higher education receiving Federal research and develop-
ment funding are fully engaging their entire talent pool, 
and for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS; FINDINGS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘STEM Opportunities Act of 2019’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents; findings. 
Sec. 2. Purposes. 
Sec. 3. Federal science agency policies for caregivers. 
Sec. 4. Collection and reporting of data on Federal research grants. 
Sec. 5. Policies for review of Federal research grants. 
Sec. 6. Collection of data on demographics of faculty. 
Sec. 7. Cultural and institutional barriers to expanding the academic and Fed-
eral STEM workforce. 
Sec. 8. Research and dissemination at the National Science Foundation. 
Sec. 9. Research and related activities to expand STEM opportunities. 
Sec. 10. Tribal Colleges and Universities Program. 
Sec. 11. Report to Congress. 
Sec. 12. Merit review. 
Sec. 13. Definitions. 
(c) 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 the 
United States educates and trains more scientists 
and engineers. 
(2) Research shows that women and minorities 
who are interested in STEM careers are dispropor-
tionately lost at nearly every educational transition 
and at every career milestone. 
(3) The National Center for Science and Engi-
neering Statistics at the National Science Founda-
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tion collects, compiles, analyzes, and publishes data 
on the demographics of STEM degrees and STEM 
jobs in the United States. 
(4) Women now earn nearly 37 percent of all 
STEM bachelor’s degrees, but major variations per-
sist among fields. In 2017, women earned only 20 
percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded in engi-
neering and 19 percent of bachelor’s degrees award-
ed in computer sciences. Based on Bureau of Labor 
Statistics data, jobs in computing occupations are 
expected to account for nearly 60 percent of the pro-
jected annual growth of newly created STEM job 
openings from 2016 to 2026. 
(5) In 2017, underrepresented minority groups 
comprised 39 percent of the college-age population 
of the United States, but only 18 percent of stu-
dents who earned bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields. 
The Higher Education Research Institute at the 
University of California, Los Angeles, found that, 
while freshmen from underrepresented minority 
groups express an interest in pursuing a STEM un-
dergraduate degree at the same rate as all other 
freshmen, only 22.1 percent of Latino students, 18.4 
percent of African-American students, and 18.8 per-
cent of Native American students studying in STEM 
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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 
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. 
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(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 
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 
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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. 
(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-
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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 
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. 
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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 
the entire talent pool of the United States. 
(2) To promote research on, and increase un-
derstanding of, the participation and trajectories of 
women, minorities, and other groups historically 
underrepresented in STEM studies and careers, in-
cluding persons with disabilities, older learners, vet-
erans, and rural, poor, and tribal populations, at in-
stitutions of higher education and Federal science 
agencies, including Federal laboratories. 
(3) To raise awareness within Federal science 
agencies, including Federal laboratories, and institu-
tions of higher education about cultural and institu-
tional barriers limiting the recruitment, retention, 
promotion, and other indicators of participation and 
achievement of women, minorities, and other groups 
historically underrepresented in academic and Gov-
ernment STEM research careers at all levels. 
(4) To identify, disseminate, and implement 
best practices at Federal science agencies, including 
Federal laboratories, and at institutions of higher 
education to remove or reduce cultural and institu-
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