[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 87 (Thursday, June 13, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E1079]]


                     PROMOTING THE STUDY OF SCIENCE

                                 ______


                         HON. EDWARD J. MARKEY

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 13, 1996

  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation aimed 
at promoting the study of science among our Nation's youth. My 
legislation would reauthorize the National Science Scholarship Program 
which was originally supported by a bipartisan majority of both Houses 
and signed by President Bush in 1990. It would reward outstanding 
students who have made a commitment to pursue a degree in the sciences. 
By awarding these students an academic scholarship, this legislation 
will help families offset the escalating costs of higher education 
while facilitating student interest in a field which has become 
increasingly important to our technologically based society. In 
addition, the legislation would require at least one-half of the 
scholarships be awarded to female students, promoting the participation 
of women in an area which has traditionally been dominated by men.
  Never before has the need to have a work force well versed in the 
sciences been so critical to our Nation's success. Just 100 years ago, 
10 of the 12 largest companies in America were natural resource 
companies. They were businesses whose success depended on raw materials 
such as cotton, tobacco, and steel. Today, our economy is drastically 
different. As we enter the 21st century, the 10 largest and most 
rapidly growing industries in the world are brainpower industries: 
microelectronics, biotech, material-science, telecommunications. They 
are industries which have succeeded because of the ingenuity and 
intelligence of their employees. If America hopes to keep these 
brainpower industries based in the United States, we need to provide 
employers with a work force which is technologically literate. My 
legislation addresses this need by encouraging students to pursue 
science-based careers.

  The National Science Scholarship Program was initiated in 1990 under 
the Excellence in Mathematics, Science and Engineering Education Act to 
provide financial assistance for two extraordinary science students 
from each congressional district. President Bush originated the 
legislation and it was approved with wide bipartisan support. As he 
signed the National Science Scholarship Program into law, President 
Bush said of the program:

       This new program will provide an important vehicle for 
     demonstrating the Nation's commitment to excellence in 
     science, mathematics, and engineering achievement and to the 
     recognition of excellent young people who are pursuing higher 
     education and careers in those fields.

  Although the program was relatively small in size, costing only $4.4 
million annually, its impact was large as thousands of students across 
the country received up to $5,000 per year to help defray the costs of 
college.
  One of the key elements of the National Science Scholarship Program's 
success is the provision that at least half of the scholarship 
recipients be women. Although the conditions for female scientists have 
greatly improved since the turn of the century when Dr. Elizabeth 
Blackwell, America's first female graduate of medical school was forced 
to go to England to practice her profession, the number of women 
entering this historically male dominated field is still relatively 
small. Today women receive 54 percent of all bachelor's degrees, yet 
they earn little more than 40 percent of all B.A.'s in science fields 
and less than 15 percent of engineering degrees. Over the last 10 
years, the percentage of bachelors degrees awarded to women in the 
field of computer science actually decreased from 35 to 30 percent. The 
National Science Scholarship Program actively works to eliminate this 
disparity by encouraging young women to pursue careers in sciences at 
the very age when a disproportionate number of well-qualified girls and 
women give up on potential careers in science and engineering.
  Despite the success of this program, it was merged into a larger, 
less focused program at the end of the last Congress. In the process, 
its authorization was repealed, appropriations cut, and science 
priority eliminated. The 50-50 split between men and women scholars and 
the district-by-district distribution of scholarships were also 
dropped. In short, the program disappeared. As a result, almost 2,000 
intelligent, highly motivated students have been denied access to much-
needed scholarship money.
  In a post-GATT, post-NAFTA world, we cannot afford to create barriers 
to young scientists realizing their full potential. This is why I am 
introducing legislation which would reauthorize the National Science 
Scholarship Program. As we enter the information age, let us do so as a 
community which is prepared to meet the challenges of the next 
millennium. Let us support our young scientists by encouraging them to 
pursue careers in science fields. Let us reauthorize the National 
Science Scholarship Program.

                          ____________________