§19155 Cultural and Institutional Barriers to Expanding the Academic and Federal Stem Workforce

Summary

The Director must, within 12 months after August 9, 2022, work with the interagency working group on inclusion in STEM and use existing federal guidance where it fits, and then widely share best practices with organizations that get federal research funding. Those best practices must cover two main things: doing regular climate surveys in STEM departments and divisions to find and fix cultural or institutional barriers that block the recruitment, retention, or advancement of groups historically underrepresented in STEM, and offering training, such as workshops, so STEM professionals learn current, effective ways to recruit, evaluate, and promote students and research staff without bias. Using that guidance, the Director of the National Science Foundation must make a policy that covers at least doctoral-degree-granting institutions that get federal research funds and, where practical, requires those institutions to report to the NSF Director on actions and policies they adopted within 3 years after August 9, 2022. Each federal research agency with a federal laboratory must also set up and use similar practices for its labs, and each lab must report to its agency head within 3 years after August 9, 2022. The NSF Director must report to Congress, no later than 4 years after August 9, 2022, with a summary and analysis of the types and how often the reported activities and policies were done.