Sec. 7. Cultural and institutional barriers to expanding the academic and Federal STEM workforce
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Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall develop written guidance for institutions of higher education and Federal laboratories on the best practices for— conducting periodic climate surveys of STEM departments and divisions, with a particular focus on identifying any cultural or institutional barriers to the recruitment, retention, or advancement of women, racial and ethnic minorities, and other groups historically underrepresented in STEM studies and careers; and providing educational opportunities, including workshops as described in subsection
(b), for STEM faculty, research personnel, and administrators to learn about current research on implicit bias in recruitment, evaluation, and promotion of undergraduate and graduate students and research personnel. In developing the guidance under paragraph
(1), the Director shall utilize guidance already developed by Federal science agencies. Federal science agencies shall broadly disseminate the guidance developed under paragraph
(1)to institutions of higher education that receive Federal research funding and Federal laboratories. Consistent with the guidance developed under paragraph (1)— the Director of the National Science Foundation shall develop a policy that— applies to, at a minimum, each institution classified under the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research Carnegie Classification as a doctorate-granting university with a very high level of research activity; and requires each such institution, not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, to report to the Director of the National Science Foundation on activities and policies developed and implemented based on the guidance developed under paragraph (1); and each Federal science agency with a Federal laboratory shall maintain or develop and implement practices and policies for the purposes described in paragraph
(1)for such laboratory. Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in consultation with the interagency working group on inclusion in STEM, shall recommend a uniform policy for Federal science agencies to carry out a program of workshops that educate STEM department chairs at institutions of higher education, senior managers at Federal laboratories, and other federally funded researchers about methods that minimize the effects of implicit bias in the career advancement, including hiring, tenure, promotion, and selection for any honor based in part on the recipient’s research record, of academic and Federal STEM researchers. The Director shall ensure that workshops supported under this subsection are coordinated across Federal science agencies and jointly supported as appropriate. To the extent practicable, workshops shall be held in conjunction with national or regional STEM disciplinary meetings to minimize costs associated with participant travel. In considering the participation of STEM department chairs and other academic researchers, the Director shall prioritize workshops for the broad fields of STEM in which the national rate of representation of women among tenured or tenure-track faculty or nonfaculty researchers at doctorate-granting institutions of higher education is less than 25 percent, according to the most recent data available from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. A Federal science agency may carry out the program of workshops under this subsection by making grants to organizations made eligible by the Federal science agency and any of the following organizations: Nonprofit scientific and professional societies and organizations that represent one or more STEM disciplines. Nonprofit organizations that have the primary mission of advancing the participation of women, minorities, or other groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The workshops shall have the following characteristics: Invitees to workshops shall include at least— the chairs of departments in the relevant STEM discipline or disciplines from at least the top 50 institutions of higher education, as determined by the amount of Federal research and development funds obligated to each institution of higher education in the prior year based on data available from the National Science Foundation; and in the case of Federal laboratories, individuals with personnel management responsibilities comparable to those of an institution of higher education department chair. Activities at the workshops shall include research presentations and interactive discussions or other activities that increase the awareness of the existence of implicit bias in recruitment, hiring, tenure review, promotion, and other forms of formal recognition of individual achievement for faculty and other federally funded STEM researchers and shall provide strategies to overcome such bias. Research presentations and other workshop programs, as appropriate, shall include a discussion of the unique challenges faced by different underrepresented groups, including minority women, minority men, persons from rural and underserved areas, persons with disabilities, and first generation graduates in research. Workshop programs shall include information on best practices for mentoring undergraduate and graduate women, minorities, and other students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Any proposal for funding by an organization seeking to carry out a workshop under this subsection shall include a description of how such organization will— collect data on the rates of attendance by invitees in workshops, including information on the home institution and department of attendees, and the rank of faculty attendees; conduct attitudinal surveys on workshop attendees before and after the workshops; and collect follow-up data on any relevant institutional policy or practice changes reported by attendees not later than one year after attendance in such a workshop. Organizations receiving funding to carry out workshops under this subsection shall report the data required in paragraph
(7)to the Director of the National Science Foundation in such form as required by such Director. Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the National Science Foundation shall submit a report to Congress that includes— a summary and analysis of the types and frequency of activities and policies developed and carried out under subsection
(a)based on the reports submitted under paragraph
(4)of such subsection; and a description and evaluation of the status and effectiveness of the program of workshops required under subsection
(c), including a summary of any data reported under paragraph
(8)of such subsection. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Director of the National Science Foundation $1,000,000 in each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024 to carry out this section.