Sec. 7. National science foundation support for broadening participation in STEM

1,139 words·~5 min read·/bill/114/s/2784/is/section-7

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

The Director shall award competitive grants to institutions of higher education (or consortia of such institutions) to implement or expand evidence-based reforms for the purpose of recruiting, retaining, and advancing students, fellows, trainees, and faculty from underrepresented groups in STEM, and do so, to the extent practicable, within existing National Science Foundation programs. Grants shall be awarded under this section on a merit-reviewed, competitive basis. An institution of higher education (or a consortium of such institutions) seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Director at such time, in such manner, and containing such information and assurances as such Director may require.

The application shall include, at a minimum— a description of the proposed reform effort; a description of the research findings that will serve as the basis for the proposed reform effort or, in the case of applications that propose an expansion of a previously implemented reform, a description of the previously implemented reform effort, including data about the recruitment, retention, and academic achievement of students from underrepresented groups; evidence of an institutional commitment to, and support for, the proposed reform effort, including a long-term commitment to implement successful strategies from the current reform beyond the academic unit or units included in the grant proposal; a description of existing or planned institutional policies and practices regarding faculty hiring, promotion, tenure, and teaching assignments that reward faculty contributions to increasing representation from underrepresented groups in STEM; and how the success and effectiveness of the proposed reform effort will be evaluated and assessed in order to contribute to the national knowledge base about models for catalyzing institutional change.

In selecting grant recipients under this section, the Director shall consider, at a minimum— the likelihood of success of the proposed reform effort at the institution submitting the application, including the extent to which the faculty, staff, and administrators of the institution are committed to making the proposed institutional reform a priority of the participating academic unit or units; the degree to which the proposed reform effort will contribute to change in institutional culture and policy such that greater value is placed on faculty engagement in the retention of students from underrepresented groups; the likelihood that the institution will sustain or expand the proposed reform effort beyond the period of the grant; and the degree to which evaluation and assessment plans are included in the design of the proposed reform effort.

With respect to applications for a grant under this section that include an expansion of existing reforms beyond a single academic unit, the Director shall give priority in awarding grants to applications for which a senior institutional administrator, such as a dean or other administrator of equal or higher rank, serves as the principal investigator. The Director shall give priority in awarding grants under this section to applications that target at the broad fields of STEM in which the national rate of representation of underrepresented groups among tenured or tenure-track faculty or non-faculty researchers at doctorate-granting institutions of higher education is at least 25-percent less than the graduate degree completion rate for underrepresented groups in that broad field of STEM, according to the most recent data available from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

The Director shall ensure, to the extent practicable, that grants awarded under this section are made to a variety of types of institutions of higher education, including 2-year institutions of higher education and minority-serving institutions of higher education. An institution of higher education (or a consortium of such institutions) that receives a grant under this section shall use the grant funds for activities that may include— implementation or expansion of innovative, research-based approaches to broaden participation of underrepresented groups in STEM fields; implementation or expansion of bridge, cohort, tutoring, or mentoring programs designed to enhance the recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields; expansion of successful reforms aimed at increasing the number of STEM students from underrepresented groups beyond a single course or group of courses to achieve reform within an entire academic unit, or expansion of successful reform efforts beyond a single academic unit to other STEM academic units within an institution of higher education; expansion of opportunities for students from underrepresented groups to conduct STEM research in industry, at Federal laboratories, and at international research institutions or research sites; provision of stipends for students from underrepresented groups participating in research; development of research collaborations between research-intensive institutions of higher education and minority-serving institutions; programs to help prepare undergraduate students from minority-serving institutions to enter graduate programs at predominately White institutions of higher education; activities to identify and engage exceptional undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups at various stages of their studies and to encourage them to enter academic careers; professional development, mentoring, and research training opportunities for graduate students and early career faculty from underrepresented groups; implementation or expansion of faculty development programs focused on improving retention of undergraduate and graduate STEM students from underrepresented groups; implementation or expansion of mechanisms designed to recognize and reward faculty members who demonstrate a commitment to increasing the participation of students from underrepresented groups in STEM fields; institution-wide improvements in workload distribution, such that faculty staff, postdoctoral fellows, trainees, and students from underrepresented groups are not disadvantaged in conducting research, publishing papers, and engaging in other activities required to achieve tenure status or advance their career; development and implementation of training courses for administrators and search committee members to ensure that candidates from underrepresented groups are not subject to implicit biases in hiring, promotion, or evaluation processes or procedures; institutional assessment activities, including data collection and policy review to assess factors that may be impeding or facilitating the recruitment, retention, and success of underrepresented groups at all levels of the university; and other activities consistent with the purpose described in subsection (a), as determined by the Director.

All grants awarded under this section shall include an education research component that will support the design and implementation of a system for data collection and evaluation of proposed reform efforts in order to build the knowledge base on promising models for increasing recruitment and retention of students from underrepresented groups in STEM education at the undergraduate and graduate level across a diverse set of institutions. The Director shall coordinate with relevant Federal agencies in disseminating the results of the research under this subsection to ensure that best practices for increasing the inclusion of underrepresented groups in STEM in institutions of higher education are made readily available to all types of institutions of higher education, other Federal agencies, relevant committees, subcommittees, and working groups of the National Science and Technology Council, non-Federal funders of STEM education, and the general public.

There are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 in each of fiscal years 2017 through 2021 to carry out this section.