Broadening Participation in STEM
Date: Monday, August 2, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: 2318 Rayburn House Office Building
Opening Statement By Vice Chairwoman Marcia Fudge
Good morning and welcome to today’s Research and Science Education Subcommittee hearing on broadening the participation of individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM fields. In the last three years, this Subcommittee has held four hearings focused specifically on the barriers to increasing the interest and participation of women in STEM. Today, we want to get a better understanding of the unique obstacles faced by individuals from different racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and hope to identify both common challenges and opportunities to widen the STEM pipeline. As many of you know, we are in the process of examining the state of National Science Foundation programs authorized under the 2007 America COMPETES Act, with the goal of strengthening the NSF’s research and education missions, including programs related to broadening participation.
Science and engineering have become steadily more important not only in our daily lives, but also to the economic strength and competitiveness of the United States. We have heard many times that we, as a nation, need to produce more scientists and engineers, as well as a more STEM-literate workforce to fill a growing number of technical jobs. But we will find it much more difficult to develop the well-trained STEM workforce we need if we continue to overlook significant portions of the talent pool. We need to do a better job of developing ALL of the STEM talent the nation has to offer, especially because changing demographics mean that by 2050, 55 percent of the college population will be from groups that are currently minorities.
Studies show that regardless of background, one-third of all incoming freshmen plan to major in a STEM field, but the fraction of students completing STEM degrees varies widely by race. Between 32 and 38 percent of all minority students intending to pursue an undergraduate STEM degree actually get one. When you compare these numbers to the 58 percent of white students and 74 percent of Asian students who do successfully complete their undergraduate STEM degrees, it raises several concerns. First, we need to identify and address the preparatory, cultural, and institutional barriers faced by underrepresented groups. But these numbers also remind me that the attrition rates, especially in fields like computer science or engineering, are too high regardless of demographic.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about what is working, what obstacles remain, where we go from here, and how the Federal government can help. Again, I am particularly interested in any recommendations the witnesses may have about the broadening participation programs managed by the NSF. This is a particularly timely issue given the Administration’s FY 2011 budget, in which they propose consolidating many of the NSF’s existing broadening participation programs into a single comprehensive framework.
I thank all the witness for being here today and I look forward to your testimony.
Witnesses
Panel
0 - Dr. Shirley M. Malcom
Head of the Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs American Association for the Advancement of Science American Association for the Advancement
Download the Witness Testimony
0 - Dr. Alicia C. Dowd
Associate Professor of Higher Education University of Southern California and Co-Director of the Center for Urban Education University of Southern California an
Download the Witness Testimony
0 - Dr. Keivan Stassun
Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy Vanderbilt University and the Co-Director of the Vanderbilt University and the Co-Director of the
Download the Witness Testimony
0 - Dr. David Yarlott
President of Little Big Horn College Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Chair of the Board of Directors of the A
Download the Witness Testimony
0 - Ms. Elaine Craft
Director of the South Carolina Advanced Technological Education National Resource Center Florence Darlington Technical College Florence Darlington Technical Col
Download the Witness Testimony
