[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5142 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5142

 To provide for the establishment of a program at the National Science 
     Foundation to increase the population of science, technology, 
     engineering, and mathematics undergraduate students through a 
scholarship program to increase the business, industrial, academic, and 
             scientific workforce, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2006

  Mr. Holt (for himself, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Zoe 
    Lofgren of California, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Markey, Mr. Smith of 
 Washington, Mr. Inslee, Mr. Owens, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. 
Hinojosa, Mr. Capuano, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. McIntyre, and Mr. Jefferson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                                Science

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the establishment of a program at the National Science 
     Foundation to increase the population of science, technology, 
     engineering, and mathematics undergraduate students through a 
scholarship program to increase the business, industrial, academic, and 
             scientific workforce, and for other purposes.

    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 ``National Science Foundation Scholars 
Program Act''.

SEC. 2. SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM.

    (a) Establishment.--The Director shall establish a program to 
provide scholarships to students in science, technology, engineering, 
or mathematics programs at institutions of higher education in the 
United States.
    (b) Application Process.--
            (1) Preapplication information.--The Director shall make 
        available to potential scholarship applicants information 
        relating to the scholarship program, including--
                    (A) a description of expectations for the success 
                of scholarship recipients in school; and
                    (B) any other information the Director considers 
                appropriate.
            (2) Deadline.--Complete applications shall be due by 
        January 1 of each year. No applications received after such 
        date shall be considered.
            (3) Selection.--The Director shall select scholarship 
        recipients not later than April 15 of each year.
            (4) Notification.--The Director shall develop a system to 
        ensure prompt notification to applicants of their selection for 
        a scholarship, including notification by at least 2 of the 
        following methods:
                    (A) E-mail.
                    (B) Telephone.
                    (C) Mail.
    (c) Selection Criteria.--Scholarships shall be awarded under this 
section on the basis of merit, high school class rank, a personal essay 
on a topic chosen by the Director, and letters of recommendation of a 
number and type determined by the Director, with consideration given to 
financial need and the goal of providing support to members of 
underrepresented groups, within the meaning of the Science and 
Engineering Equal Opportunities Act (42 U.S.C. 1885 et seq.).
    (d) Amount of Scholarship.--A scholarship award under this section 
shall be in an amount sufficient to cover the cost of tuition, room and 
board, and fees at the institution of higher education the student is 
attending, not to exceed $20,000 per year.
    (e) Limitation.--A student may not receive scholarships under this 
section for more than 5 years of undergraduate study.
    (f) Termination.--A student who has received scholarship support 
under this section for a year who fails to maintain appropriate 
academic achievement, as determined by the Director on the basis of the 
student's transcript and a letter written by the student's advisor 
assessing in detail the progress of the student, shall not have the 
scholarship renewed for subsequent years.
    (g) Geographic Distribution.--To the extent possible, the Director 
shall ensure that scholarships under this section are distributed among 
the States, including commonwealths, territories, and possessions of 
the United States, proportionally to the size of their congressional 
delegations.

SEC. 3. UNIVERSITY GRANTS.

    The Director shall establish a program to award annual grants of 
$5,000 to institutions of higher education at which 10 or more 
undergraduates are receiving a scholarship under this Act to develop 
and implement programs for--
            (1) monthly gathering of such scholarship recipients to 
        hear and ask questions of a speaker in a science, technology, 
        engineering, or mathematics discipline working in business, 
        industry, elementary or secondary education, or at a museum or 
        other informal educational organization;
            (2) annual poster sessions in which such scholarship 
        recipients present their research experience to, among others, 
        high school students who are potential applicants for a 
        scholarship under this Act;
            (3) other outreach to middle school and high school 
        students; and
            (4) mentoring for the scholarship recipients.

SEC. 4. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RESPONSIBILITIES.

    The Director shall--
            (1) annually report to the Congress on the status of 
        programs implemented under this Act, including--
                    (A) aggregate data on scholarship recipients, not 
                including any personally identifying data;
                    (B) the geographic distribution of scholarship 
                awards;
                    (C) activities of scholarship recipients after 
                receiving their undergraduate degree;
                    (D) any changes made to those programs; and
                    (E) responses to any other congressional inquiries; 
                and
            (2) establish and maintain a website for current, former, 
        and potential scholarship recipients to share ideas, contribute 
        to issue forums, present work, and learn about research 
        opportunities.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated to the National Science 
Foundation for carrying out this Act--
            (1) $242,000,000 for fiscal year 2007;
            (2) $726,000,000 for fiscal year 2008;
            (3) $1,695,500,000 for fiscal year 2009;
            (4) $2,180,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; and
            (5) $2,664,500,000 for fiscal year 2011.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the 
        National Science Foundation; and
            (2) the term ``institution of higher education'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 101 of the Higher Education 
        Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).
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