Ranking Member Johnson's Statement on the "Broadening Participation in STEM Education Act"
Today I am introducing H.R. 4483, the “Broadening Participation in STEM Education Act.” This bill aims to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who receive undergraduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines. It also seeks to increase the number of STEM faculty members from underrepresented minority groups at institutions of higher education.
The U.S. faces a severe shortfall in students graduating with degrees in STEM fields. With approximately 20 percent of our undergraduate degrees awarded in science and engineering disciplines, we rank 27th among developed nations in producing graduates qualified for 21st Century STEM careers. Statistics become even more alarming when you look at the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who receive degrees in STEM disciplines. As of 2011, only about 8 percent of 24 years-olds from these groups had obtained a bachelor’s degree in a science or engineering discipline.
This is more than just a question of equity. We have a vast, untapped pool of talent in America, and this pool is continuing to grow. It is estimated that, by 2050, 52 percent of the U.S. population will be from underrepresented minority groups. We have to drastically increase the number of students from these groups receiving degrees in STEM disciplines or we will undoubtedly relinquish our global leadership in innovation and job creation.
There are many reasons why the number of underrepresented minority students receiving degrees in STEM fields is so appallingly low. It starts at the K-12 level, where too many of our teachers are not well prepared to teach math and science and too many of our schools lack even basic science laboratory equipment. But even those minority students who enter college intending to major in a STEM discipline abandon science and engineering for other fields at a much higher rate than their peers. These young people are smart and motivated and small steps such as improved mentorship and increased access to research experiences have proven to keep students from all backgrounds on track to complete their STEM degrees.
Statistics are equally troubling when it comes to underrepresented minorities and their pursuit of academic careers in STEM disciplines. Underrepresented minorities currently make up about 29 percent of the U.S. population, but only about 8 percent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty members at universities and four-year colleges. Less than one percent of tenure-track science and engineering faculty members at the nation’s top 100 research universities are from underrepresented groups. One consequence of having such a low number of minority faculty, among other things, is that they are called on much more frequently than their peers to serve on commissions, committees, and the like as a way of showing that a college or university is committed to diversity in their administrative procedures. As a result, minority faculty have less time to conduct research, publish papers, mentor students, and do other work that is required for them achieve tenure status and otherwise thrive in their research careers. More fundamentally, the low number of minority faculty is another indicator of the untapped potential that we have in the STEM disciplines.
Passing the “Broadening Participation in STEM Education Act” will help address both of these issues. By authorizing the Director of NSF to award grants to colleges and universities that want to implement or expand innovative, research-based approaches to recruit and retain students from underrepresented minority groups, we will take a necessary step toward increasing the number of students from these groups who successfully complete undergraduate degrees in STEM fields. Similarly, by making grants available to colleges and universities to allow them to make an effort to increase the number of faculty members from underrepresented minority groups, we will take a necessary step toward achieving equality at our institutions of higher education. These are admittedly small steps toward maintaining American leadership in innovation, but they are necessary and achievable steps and we need to act now. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting H.R. 4483.
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