MSI STEM Achievement Act

Mr. Speaker, the United States is facing grave challenges on many fronts. We are only beginning to emerge from a global pandemic, with the outlook still uncertain. Our critical infrastructure, our Federal agencies, and companies across all sectors are being hacked. We are racing to mitigate the destructive effects of climate change. Our economic competitiveness is threatened as competitors like China invest heavily in science and technology.

To solve these problems, we need a cadre of trained scientists and engineers pushing the boundaries of what we know and what we can achieve. So far, we have led the world in science and innovation with a STEM workforce that does not come close to representing the diversity of our nation. When a Black woman, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, is at the center of developing the mRNA vaccine that is helping us conquer the pandemic, we treat it as exceptional, instead of expected. If we maintain such a narrow perspective on who should be a scientist, if we continue to leave behind so much of our nation's brainpower, we cannot succeed.

The good news is, we have highly successful models for increasing the diversity of STEM graduates. Minority serving institutions have long played a critical role in training and educating students of color in STEM fields. Student bodies at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are the most diverse in the nation. These and other minority serving institutions (MSIs) offer access to STEM education and a pathway to research or other STEM careers to students who might otherwise have limited opportunities. MSIs employ tailored initiatives, policies, and practices that meet students where they are, academically, financially, and socially, while moving students toward higher levels of academic achievement.

For instance, HBCUs play an outsized role in educating African American STEM graduates. While HBCUs make up only 3 percent of the nation's colleges and universities, they graduate 32 percent of African American students earning bachelor's degrees in the physical sciences, 29 percent in mathematics, and 27 percent in the biological sciences. One quarter of African Americans with STEM PhDs earned their bachelor's degree at an HBCU.

MSIs have a proven track record of recruiting, retaining, and graduating underrepresented minority students with STEM degrees. However, more investment and outreach is needed to enable MSIs to fully realize their potential to contribute to the STEM workforce. The MSI STEM Achievement Act provides for increased transparency, accountability, and accessibility of Federal STEM education and research funding for MSIs. The bill directs the Government Accountability Office to compile an inventory of programs targeted to MSIs and make recommendations for how agencies can increase competitiveness of MSIs in such programs. The bill also supports research on the challenges and successes MSIs have had in contributing to the STEM workforce, including support for MSI Centers of Innovation to help scale up successful practices pioneered at MSIs. Finally, the bill requires the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to issue policy guidance for Federal science agencies to improve outreach to MSIs in order to increase awareness of and competitiveness in agency funding opportunities.

I want to thank Rep. Waltz for joining me in introducing this bipartisan legislation. I also want to thank the 24 organizations and institutions that have endorsed H.R. 2027.

MSIs have charted a course to developing the diverse STEM workforce we need to ensure continued leadership in science and innovation. Let us empower these institutions, and others, to build on that success. I look forward to seeing a companion in the Senate and working with my colleagues in both bodies to get this legislation enacted.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to co-sponsor this legislation led by Chairwoman Johnson and Research and Technology Ranking Member Michael Waltz, which continues the Science Committee's bipartisan work to support, encourage, and develop the next generation of America's Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science workforce.

Minority-serving institutions, such as historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and Tribal colleges and universities have a long record of success in recruiting, retaining, and graduating underrepresented students in the STEM fields.

In my own district, I have seen the unique value of minority-serving institutions. For more than 100 years, Langston University, a historically Black college and land-grant institution, has educated students of all backgrounds. They have influenced people's lives beyond the classroom in service to the community in both rural and urban Oklahoma. This legislation will help schools like Langston prepare their students to fill the STEM jobs of the 21st century.

Since 1990, employment in STEM occupations has grown by nearly 80 percent. Over the next decade, with demand continuing to grow and U.S. universities expecting to produce less than one-third of the STEM graduates needed, the STEM shortage is anticipated to reach 1 million professionals. At the same time, minorities are severely underrepresented in STEM fields, only accounting for 11 percent of the STEM workforce.

To meet this growing demand, talent from all groups is essential. This bill we are considering today takes up this call to action by providing for increased transparency, accountability, and accessibility of Federal STEM education and research funding.

Without a diverse talent pool of Americans with strong STEM knowledge and skills prepared for the jobs of the future, the U.S. will not be able to maintain the innovation that supports key sectors of the economy, including agriculture, energy, healthcare, and defense.

Mr. Speaker, I, again, thank Chairwoman Johnson and Ranking Member Waltz for their leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Waltz), the ranking member on the Research and Technology Subcommittee, and one of our great activists on this subject matter.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, the United States is in a race to remain the world leader in science and technology. The only way we will win this is by utilizing America's most valuable resource: Our people.

That means developing a diverse STEM-capable workforce at every education level and from every background. Creating opportunities for students to not only develop STEM knowledge, but to also have hands-on experience is essential.

Research shows that students--especially those from underrepresented minority backgrounds--are more likely to graduate from science and engineering programs if they have opportunities to engage in STEM course content with peers, participate in undergraduate research, and join science clubs and organizations.

This bill will support such STEM education and training activities in MSIs, providing these students with the skills necessary to compete and

flourish in the 21st century. These investments will help grow our workforce, improve our economy, and protect our country.

I, again, would like to thank Chairwoman Johnson and Ranking Member Waltz for their leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2027) to direct Federal science agencies and the Office of Science and Technology Policy to undertake activities to improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education and enhance the research capacity at the Nation's HBCUs, TCUs, and MSIs, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2027, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2027, the MSI STEM Achievement Act.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how important scientists and engineers are to helping us respond to crises and move toward a brighter future.

Whether it is a deadly pandemic or the climate crisis, we need all of our Nation's talent to help us understand the challenges and contribute to solutions. We also need all of our Nation's talent to fill the high- skilled jobs of the future.

Our Nation's demographics are changing, and we are not keeping up in diversifying our STEM workforce. Hispanics represent 18 percent of the U.S. population, but only 9 percent of the bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics. And for Black students, STEM degree attainment has either stagnated or declined since 1996.

The United States can rightly celebrate our great research universities and the STEM talent they cultivate in their laboratories. But these institutions represent a small fraction of the hundreds of institutions across the Nation that graduate students with STEM degrees, and an even smaller fraction in terms of the number of Black and Hispanic students.

In 2018, the Academies released a report highlighting the outsized contributions made by minority-serving institutions, or MSIs. These institutions have a remarkable record of success in recruiting, retaining, and graduating underrepresented minority students in STEM. For example, HBCUs graduate 25 percent of all African-

American graduates with STEM degrees. Unfortunately, MSIs have relatively insufficient resources and infrastructure.

The MSI STEM Achievement Act would make sure that education and research opportunities are more accessible to STEM students at MSIs. The legislation would require more transparency and accountability in Federal science agency support for MSIs. The legislation directs the National Science Foundation to support research on effective practices at MSIs for recruiting and retaining minority students in STEM, and offer strategies to build on and scale best practices.

It further directs NSF to support research and STEM education capacity building at MSIs. The legislation also directs OSTP to develop a strategic plan for increasing MSI participation and success in competitive Federal research funding opportunities.

Supporting our country's minority-serving institutions through targeted investments and outreach is essential to building our STEM workforce for the future.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2027, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge all of my colleagues to support the bipartisan MSI STEM Achievement Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, since 1904, Bethune-Cookman University, a historically Black college, has contributed to a rich, diverse history in my district in Florida. Four thousand students proudly call this university home. In Florida's Sixth Congressional District, we are proud of all of Bethune-Cookman's accomplishments, especially in the STEM fields. I personally look forward to seeing the statue of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune represent the great State of Florida in Statuary Hall very soon.

Mr. Speaker, minorities make up 30 percent of the United States population, but nationwide we are seeing a gap in minority representation in STEM fields. Believe it or not, minorities account for only 11 percent of the STEM workforce, and that 11 percent comes after years of slow improvement and diversity inclusion, but does not factor in how the COVID pandemic has disproportionately affected women and underrepresented minorities in STEM. There is fear that this limited progress may be undone by the COVID-19 crisis.

Simultaneously, the demand for STEM skills is at an all-time high. Over the next decade, the STEM shortage is anticipated to reach 1 million professionals. So we have a math problem.

If we want to maintain America's edge over the Chinese Communist Party and over our adversaries, then we need to make sure our workforce reflects our country's diversity and that the numbers for that workforce are there. We must commit to increasing participation in the STEM enterprise and supporting individuals and institutions disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Minority-serving institutions like Bethune-Cookman University play a critical role in bringing members of underrepresented groups into STEM training and careers. By partnering with MSIs, the bill we are considering today would help increase the capacity for minority students in STEM curricula and encourage partnerships with industry and Federal laboratories.

While the Chinese Communist Party is trying to leapfrog America in STEM, this bill will enhance our domestic workforce to compete. If America wants to lead militarily, economically, and globally, then we must lead in STEM.

Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss to not mention the importance of women as well in STEM. As I have said countless times since I have been elected, and will continue to say, from my experience as a Green Beret around the globe, where women thrive in business, in civil society, and in politics, the fact is that extremism does not thrive. So for that reason, amongst others, diversity in STEM is a national security issue.

In Volusia County, in my district, just north of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the Kennedy Space Center, we are seeing countless businesses participate in workforce programs like the Space Coast Consortium Apprenticeship Program. This program and others are making huge strides to advance STEM curriculum and workforce development.

As the Republican lead on the MSI STEM Achievement Act, I want to thank Chairwoman Johnson, as well as Ranking Member Lucas, for working with me to improve participation in STEM at MSIs. For America's continued predominance in science and technology, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill and for its passage.

Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 145, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 146, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 147, and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 148.