[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3809 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3809
To direct the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish
a Chief Diversity Officer position and to develop a strategic plan to
ensure participation in NSF activities by a diverse group of learners,
researchers, and institutions.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 11, 2021
Mr. Bowman (for himself, Mrs. Kim of California, and Mr. Khanna)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Director of the National Science Foundation to establish
a Chief Diversity Officer position and to develop a strategic plan to
ensure participation in NSF activities by a diverse group of learners,
researchers, and institutions.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Research Excellence through STEM
Inclusion Act''.
SEC. 2. CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER OF THE NSF.
(a) Chief Diversity Officer.--
(1) Appointment.--The Director shall appoint a senior
agency official within the Office of the Director as a Chief
Diversity Officer.
(2) Qualifications.--The Chief Diversity Officer shall have
significant experience, within the Federal Government and the
science community, with diversity- and inclusion-related
matters, including--
(A) civil rights compliance;
(B) harassment policy, reviews, and investigations;
(C) equal employment opportunity; and
(D) disability policy.
(3) Oversight.--The Chief Diversity Officer shall direct
the Office of Diversity and Inclusion of the Foundation and
report directly to the Director in the performance of the
duties of the Chief Diversity Officer under this section.
(b) Duties.--The Chief Diversity Officer is responsible for
providing advice on policy, oversight, guidance, and coordination with
respect to matters of the Foundation related to diversity and
inclusion, including ensuring the geographic diversity of the
Foundation programs. Other duties may include--
(1) establishing and maintaining a strategic plan that
publicly states a diversity definition, vision, and goals for
the Foundation;
(2) defining a set of strategic metrics that are--
(A) directly linked to key organizational
priorities and goals;
(B) actionable; and
(C) actively used to implement the strategic plan
under paragraph (1);
(3) advising in the establishment of a strategic plan for
diverse participation by individuals and institutions of higher
education, including community colleges, historically Black
colleges and universities, Tribal colleges or universities,
minority-serving institutions, institutions of higher education
with an established STEM capacity building program focused on
traditionally underrepresented populations in STEM, including
Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, and Indians, and institutions
from jurisdictions eligible to participate under section 113 of
the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1988 (42
U.S.C. 1862g);
(4) advising in the establishment of a strategic plan for
outreach to, and recruiting from, untapped locations and
underrepresented populations;
(5) advising on a diversity and inclusion strategy for the
Foundation's portfolio of PreK-12 STEM education focused
programs and activities, including goals for addressing
barriers to participation;
(6) advising on the application of the Foundation's broader
impacts review criterion; and
(7) performing such additional duties and exercise such
powers as the Director may prescribe.
(c) Funding.--From any amounts appropriated for the Foundation for
each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, the Director shall allocate
$5,000,000 to carry out this section for each such year.
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