Rep. Fudge Applauds Passage of Competes Reauthorization with Stem Diversity Provisions

Press Release

Representative Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) applauded the passage of the America COMPETES Reauthorization.

A member of the Science and Technology Committee, Rep. Fudge authored an amendment to the reauthorization requiring the the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Education to collaborate in identifying grand challenges in education research, and then determine what specific role each agency should play. This section of COMPETES instructs these agencies to solicit input from a variety of stakeholders in STEM education, who know best the needs of the STEM community. This will ensure that the research performed is relevant and useful.

The bill also includes provisions to increase women and minority participation in STEM fields to strengthen and diversify the STEM workforce by:

* Providing institutional integration grants to help colleges and universities increase retention, recruitment and degree attainment of underrepresented groups in STEM by looking for synergies across scattered campus efforts;
* Ensuring that smaller institutions, including minority serving institutions, are integrated more fully into research partnerships with research universities; and
* Prioritizing inclusion of minority serving institutions under the Partnerships for Innovation program.

Rep. Fudge commented that "COMPETES is especially important to me because it invests in two fields that are imperative to Cleveland's future, biomedical R&D and STEM education. It also invests in something even more important, access to these opportunities for women and minorities, two groups whose talents have been under-utilized in these fields."

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