Eric Iversen

One issue to rule them all

All the action this year in STEM education policy turned on the question of what to do with the National Science Foundation (NSF). Specifically, the question was whether to make it bigger. Or make it a lot bigger. Debates played out against a backdrop of fears over competition with China on the one hand, and on the other hand, more general interests in deploying the country's R&D enterprise in the cause of addressing “grand challenges.” When the 117th Congress heads back into session next month, answering these questions will likely be among the early issues for lawmakers to tackle. 

Meanwhile

Other pieces of STEM-related legislation percolated up to the surface of lawmakers’ attentions, too, though at much lower price tags. Focused mostly on equity and access — for both underrepresented demographic groups and rural areas of the country — these bills echo goals and programs put forth in previous Congresses and of enduring interest to STEM advocates.

To start off, bills of this kind that actually found their way to passage appear below. For anyone interested in taking a closer look at where policy-makers are coming from on these issues, click through the links, go to the text of the legislation, and read the “Findings” sections. A great deal of staff work can go into these sections, and the material often represents a handy distillation of key facts, trends, and figures driving the related policy discussions. Note that all funding numbers refer to “authorized” funds, not “appropriated” funds, meaning the upper limit of how much money could go towards program activities.

HR 210, Rural STEM Education Research Act

This bill passed the House on May 18. As the title indicates, the contents focus on improving the access to and quality of STEM education in rural areas as well as shoring up rural broadband capacities. Numerous agencies are charged with program and research responsibilities, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and the Government Accountability Office.  The bill calls generally for manufacturing extension partnerships, a core workforce development program in rural America, to collaborate more fully with high schools in orienting STEM education towards the needs of local employers. Funding comes to $20 million a year for five years.

HR 2027, MSI STEM Achievement Act

This bill passed the House on May 18. It calls for the National Science Foundation to award grants to minority-serving colleges and universities directed at increasing the number and capabilities of their students entering the STEM workforce. In addition, the Office of Science and Technology Policy would develop a comprehensive outreach plan for federal agencies to use in efforts to engage underrepresented student groups. Funding levels start at $170 million for 2022 and increase $5 million each year until 2026.

HR 204, STEM Opportunities Act

This bill passed the House on May 18. Also focused on underrepresented groups in STEM, this bill requires federal science agencies, especially NSF, to collect extensive demographic data about grant-making activities. In addition, the agencies should adopt recommendations from a federal report titled, “Reducing the Impact of Bias in the STEM Workforce.” NSF would also make grants to remedy underrepresentation in STEM, particularly as evident in computer science fields. Total funding would start at $28 million per year.

The House and the Senate passed competing versions of legislation to reimagine the scope and purpose of the NSF. Below are summaries of both sides.

HR 2225, National Science Foundation for the Future Act

Passed the House on June 28. The bill reauthorizes NSF and would more than double the agency’s budget over five years from its current $8.5 billion, bringing eventual funding to about $18 billion. The headline effect of the bill would be to create a new Directorate for Science and Engineering Solutions within NSF meant to support research and development efforts aimed at solving major national challenges.

HR 3593, Department of Energy Science for the Future Act

Passed the House on June 28. This bill would greatly expand the research and development efforts of the Department of Energy. Both basic research and applied research directed at areas like clean energy, environmental protections, and the fundamental nature of space and time (small topic!) come in for big funding increases, among many other areas. Total funding of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy would increase from $7 billion to $11 billion over the next five years.

S 1260, U.S. Innovation and Competition Act

Passed the Senate on June 8. The competing vision for NSF coming out of the Senate is based on the Endless Frontier Act introduced in the prior Congress. This bill focuses on boosting U.S. global competitiveness in high tech, especially in areas where China is active and accomplished, such as chip manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. This bill would raise NSF funding to $29 billion over five years and create a new directorate oriented towards technology within NSF.

What comes next

Most of the science policy community favors the House approach over the Senate approach. A great and full discussion of the many wrinkles and complexities involved in work on all of these bills is available in the American Institute of Physics newsletter, FYI. Read the article here for an illuminating account of how Members of Congress go about framing and debating STEM-related policy and funding decisions. In the wake of these bills passing separate chambers of Congress, legislators have been working on compromise approaches meant to bring all sides together.

One thing’s for sure

In any case, though, the ideas set forth in both bills signal historically high interest and commitment to expanding the country’s research and development enterprise, most of which seems likely to be channeled through NSF grant-making. The question is clearly not if more money and attention will be going to NSF, but how much: either a lot more, or a lot lot more.

Eric Iversen is VP for Learning and Communications at Start Engineering. He has written and spoken widely on STEM education and related careers. You can write to him about this topic, especially when he gets stuff wrong, at eiversen@start-engineering.com. 

You can also follow along on Twitter @StartEnginNow.

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