§19113 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

§19113 Scholarships and fellowships

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 163— - RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, COMPETITION, AND INNOVATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE › Part Part G— - Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships › § 19113

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Director must fund scholarships, fellowships, traineeships, and postdoctoral awards in key technology areas. Awards can go straight to students or to colleges and groups of colleges, including those that run Regional Innovation Engines. The Director must work to increase participation by people underrepresented in STEM. That can include targeted programs, support for HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and other minority-serving schools, help for low-income students to get associate, bachelor’s, or graduate STEM degrees, steps to fix workforce skill gaps (including giving priority to U.S. citizens and permanent residents to grow the domestic workforce), and efforts to spread opportunities across different regions. The Director should also encourage new types of graduate training, like work experience in industry or government and professional master’s programs tied to key technologies and national needs. If money is available, the Director must make postdoc awards, graduate fellowships and traineeships (including NSF programs), and scholarships, research experiences, and internships (including community college scholarships and certain internships named in law). At least 10 percent of the funds must go to community college–focused awards that boost underrepresented groups (for example, technical programs like Advanced Technological Education). Leftover funds may help colleges create and test new programs. Scholarships for low-income students require U.S. citizenship or certain immigration statuses, an application, and a promise to enroll in a STEM degree program. Selection is based on ability, and $100,000,000 is authorized for these scholarships. The Director may use or expand existing STEM education programs and partners to do this.

Title 42, §19113

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Director, acting through the Directorate, shall fund undergraduate scholarships (including at community colleges), graduate fellowships and traineeships, and postdoctoral awards in the key technology focus areas.

(b)The Director may carry out subsection (a) by making awards—

(1)directly to students; and

(2)to institutions of higher education or consortia of institutions of higher education, including those institutions or consortia involved in operating Regional Innovation Engines established under section 19108 of this title.

(c)In carrying out this section, the Director shall take steps to increase the participation of populations that are underrepresented in STEM, which may include—

(1)establishing or augmenting programs targeted at populations that are underrepresented in STEM;

(2)supporting traineeships or other relevant programs at historically Black colleges and universities, Tribal Colleges or Universities, and minority-serving institutions;

(3)enabling low-income populations to pursue associate, undergraduate, or graduate level degrees in STEM;

(4)addressing current and expected gaps in the availability or skills of the STEM workforce, or addressing needs of the STEM workforce, including by increasing educational capacity at institutions and by prioritizing awards to United States citizens, permanent residents, and individuals that will grow the domestic workforce; and

(5)addressing geographic diversity in the STEM workforce.

(d)In carrying out this section, the Director shall encourage innovation in graduate education, including through encouraging institutions of higher education to offer graduate students opportunities to gain experience in industry or Government as part of their graduate training, and through support for students in professional master’s programs related to the key technology focus areas or to the societal, national, and geostrategic challenges.

(e)Subject to the availability of funds to carry out this section, the Director shall—

(1)issue—

(A)postdoctoral awards,

(B)graduate fellowships and traineeships, inclusive of the NSF Research Traineeships and fellowships awarded under the Graduate Research Fellowship Program; and

(C)scholarships, including undergraduate scholarships, research experiences, and internships, including—

(i)scholarships to attend community colleges; and

(ii)research experiences and internships under section 1862p–5, 1862p–6, and 1862p–7 of this title;

(2)ensure that not less than 10 percent of the funds made available to carry out this section are used to support additional awards that focus on community college training, education, and teaching programs that increase the participation of populations that are historically underrepresented in STEM, including technical programs through programs such as the Advanced Technological Education program; and

(3)if funds remain after carrying out paragraphs (1) and (2) make awards to institutions of higher education to enable the institutions to fund the development and establishment of new or specialized programs of study for graduate, undergraduate, or technical college students and the evaluation of the effectiveness of those programs of study.

(f)(1)The Director shall award scholarships to low-income individuals to enable such individuals to pursue associate, undergraduate, or graduate level degrees in STEM fields.

(2)(A)To be eligible to receive a scholarship under this subsection, an individual—

(i)must be a citizen of the United States, a national of the United States (as defined in section 1101(a) of title 8), an alien admitted as a refugee under section 1157 of title 8, or an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence;

(ii)shall prepare and submit to the Director an application at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Director may require; and

(iii)shall certify to the Director that the individual intends to use amounts received under the scholarship to enroll or continue enrollment at an institution of higher education (as defined in section 1001(a) of title 20) in order to pursue an associate, undergraduate, or graduate level degree in STEM fields designated by the Director.

(B)Awards of scholarships under this subsection shall be made by the Director solely on the basis of the ability of the applicant, except that in any case in which 2 or more applicants for scholarships are deemed by the Director to be possessed of substantially equal ability, and there are not sufficient scholarships available to award one to each of such applicants, the available scholarship or scholarships shall be awarded to the applicants in a manner that will tend to result in a geographically wide distribution throughout the United States recipients’ places of permanent residence.

(3)

(4)Of amounts authorized for the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships, $100,000,000 shall be authorized to carry out this subsection.

(g)The Director may use or augment existing STEM education programs of the Foundation and leverage education or entrepreneurial partners to carry out this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 1101(a) of title 8 and section 1157 of title 8, referred to in subsec. (f)(2)(A)(i), were so in the original, but probably should have been references to section 101(a) and 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, act June 27, 1952, ch. 477, which are classified to section 1101(a) and 1157 of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality. section 1001(a) of title 20, referred to in subsec. (f)(2)(A)(iii), was so in the original, but probably should have been a reference to section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, Pub. L. 89–329, which is classified to section 1001(a) of Title 20, Education. Codification Section is comprised of section 10393 of Pub. L. 117–167. Subsec. (f)(3) of section 10393 of Pub. L. 117–167 amended section 1869c of this title.