Msi Stem Achievement Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BONAMICI. 2027, the bill now under consideration.

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.

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