[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 20121-20122]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1745
                    WOMEN IN AEROSPACE EDUCATION ACT

  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4254) to amend the National Science Foundation Authorization 
Act of 2002 to strengthen the aerospace workforce pipeline by the 
promotion of Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration internship and fellowship 
opportunities to women, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 4254

       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 ``Women in Aerospace Education 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. ROBERT NOYCE TEACHER SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM FELLOWSHIP 
                   OPPORTUNITIES.

       (a) In General.--The National Science Foundation 
     Authorization Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-368; 42 U.S.C. 
     1862n et seq.) is amended--
       (1) in section 10(a)(3)(A)(iv), by inserting ``, including 
     research experiences at national laboratories and NASA 
     centers'' before the semicolon; and
       (2) in section 10A(c)(4)--
       (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
       (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
     and inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by adding at the end the following:
       ``(C) providing internship opportunities for fellows, 
     including research experiences at national laboratories and 
     NASA Centers.''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     shall apply with respect to grants awarded on or after 
     October 1, 2018.

     SEC. 3. NASA INTERNSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES.

       Not later than October 1, 2018, the Administrator of the 
     National Aeronautics and Space Administration (in this 
     section referred to as ``NASA'') shall institute a process to 
     prioritize the recruitment of qualified candidates who are 
     women or individuals who are historically underrepresented in 
     the fields of science, technology, engineering, and 
     mathematics (STEM) and computer science for internships and 
     fellowships at NASA with relevance to the aerospace sector 
     and related fields.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Knight) and the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie 
Bernice Johnson) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on H.R. 4254, the bill now under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am taking this opportunity to speak on an important 
initiative to strengthen our aerospace workforce. H.R. 4254, the Women 
in Aerospace Education Act, directs the National Science Foundation 
through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and NASA, to shape 
their fellowship and internship opportunities to encourage more women 
to get aerospace expertise while they are training to be teachers.
  Female aerospace professionals must be placed in the classroom in 
greater numbers. A full fifth of U.S. aerospace engineers are of 
retirement age today. They are beginning to exit our workforce, which 
will create an enormous shortfall in our national security 
preparedness.
  Meanwhile, women represent only one-quarter of all STEM workers and 
represent only about 15 percent of all aerospace engineers. We need to 
improve our STEM education pipeline--from ensuring STEM classes are 
available to students at a young age to encouraging young Americans to 
pursue STEM education all the way through to completing their degree.
  But the gender gap that is so prevalent in this industry will persist 
until we make STEM and aerospace more inclusive of women and encourage 
women at a young age to pursue these fields.
  Attitudes about career paths are formed at a very young age. The role 
models and leaders from which young women learn have an enormous impact 
on the decisions they make throughout their formal education as they 
enter the workforce.
  I introduced the Women in Aerospace Education Act to make better use 
of some of the Federal Government's best teacher training programs to 
increase the number of women teachers who have seen, worked on, and can 
relate to the Nation's leading aerospace programs to young female 
students.
  Robert Noyce scholars, who get teacher certification assistance from 
the National Science Foundation, are already, in small numbers, getting 
experience in NASA centers and the national labs.
  Once they become certified and go teach in the K-12 system, they draw 
upon the work they did on major public initiatives in science and 
technology. Schools love having Noyce program teachers because their 
strong positive attitudes about STEM are cultivated in the students. It 
will strengthen our STEM pipeline to enhance the connection between the 
Noyce scholarship program and our schools.
  The second provision of this bill directs NASA to more actively 
promote

[[Page 20122]]

its internship and fellowship opportunities to women or members of 
other historically underrepresented groups.
  Together, the two provisions of this bill will help a necessary and 
fundamental shift in our education system in aerospace workforce.
  I would like to thank Ms. Esty for her help on this bill, and I 
encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 4254, the Women in 
Aerospace Education Act.
  I want to thank Mr. Knight and Ms. Esty for introducing this bill. 
Women continue to be woefully underrepresented in the aerospace sector. 
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women made up only 8 
percent of aerospace engineers last year. While we are inspired by the 
career of NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who holds the U.S. record for 
days in space, we must do more to ensure that successes like hers are 
the rule and not the exception.
  H.R. 4254 will help address the underrepresentation of women at all 
levels in aerospace education and in the workforce by privatizing the 
recruitment of qualified women to apply for NASA internships and 
fellowships. Some of these women will go on to be STEM teachers, and 
others will have research or industry careers. They will all benefit 
from participating in the NASA programs, and I urge my colleagues to 
support this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I continue to 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time 
as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. Esty).
  Ms. ESTY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Women 
in Aerospace Education Act. I want to thank my friend and colleague, 
Congressman Knight, for working with me to address critical workforce 
needs and bridge the gender gap in the aerospace industry.
  Mr. Speaker, quite simply, we do not have enough skilled aerospace 
workers in America, and the problem is growing worse. According to a 
2015 Aviation Week Workforce Study, nearly one-fifth--one-fifth--of our 
aerospace engineers are now eligible for retirement. What is more, 
women only account for about 15 percent of all aerospace engineers. 
That means that women represent a tremendous opportunity, an untapped 
resource for a sector vital to our economy and to our national 
security.
  Bringing women to the table is not only the right thing to do, it is 
the smart and necessary thing to do in order to keep America 
competitive in a 21st century economy.
  Women provide new and essential perspective in the workplace, driving 
innovation and strengthening our ability to address new challenges. 
With an aging workforce, we must do everything in our power to broaden 
and deepen the pool of skilled workers and provide all Americans with 
the skills they need to compete in a global economy.
  Aerospace companies in northwest and central Connecticut, like 
Ensign-Bickford, Praxair, and United Technologies Corporation, have 
shared with me for years their concerns about this aging workforce. 
That is because they are looking down the line, and they know that if 
they don't diversify their workforce soon, shortages of skilled workers 
could force these companies to relocate or even leave the United 
States.
  Our bill, the Women in Aerospace Education Act, addresses the need to 
expand and diversify the STEM workforce in two ways.
  First, our bill supports hands-on experiences for teachers. The Women 
in Aerospace Education Act does this by encouraging universities 
applying for Noyce grants to incorporate aerospace working and learning 
experiences at the national laboratories and NASA centers into their 
fellowship programs.
  Second, our bill specifically targets diversifying the aerospace 
workforce by allowing the National Science Foundation to prioritize 
women and other underrepresented groups working in aerospace 
engineering when awarding the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship grants.
  Noyce teacher grants play a vital role in placing STEM teachers in 
rural or lower-income school districts, which all too often do not have 
access to the resources, to give students robust hands-on science. Our 
bill will help ensure that more female STEM teachers will enter 
classrooms with firsthand knowledge of how aerospace technologies are 
strengthening America's future.
  This is important. This is important because it is a fact that girls 
who have women science teachers are more likely to consider a career in 
the sciences, and teachers who are exposed to hands-on, real-life 
science are better able to kindle that interest in science among their 
students.
  Let me give you an example of what a difference these efforts will 
make. Kelley Johnson is a member of my STEM Advisory Board. She is a 
founder and president of Doors to Explore, Incorporated, a startup in 
my district that provides an online resource for young people to 
explore STEM careers.
  Growing up, Kelley had no idea what aerospace engineering was; that 
is, until a local company donated a Wang computer to her high school, 
which allowed her to take her first computer science classes. Kelley 
went on to work at NASA where she designed electronics for two 
satellites. Her time at NASA was instrumental in developing her 
critical thinking skills and provided her with an even stronger 
foundation in STEM that she has used in every job since.
  Kelley's early exposure to computer science and her work at NASA 
launched her into a successful career in STEM, and she is now sharing 
that with a new generation of students.
  I am committed to making Kelley's experience available to young women 
and men all across this country who would thrive from mentorship from 
female science teachers or work experience at NASA or the national 
labs.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Knight for his leadership on this 
bill and on this important issue. I urge my colleagues to support the 
Women in Aerospace Education Act.
  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no further 
requests for time. I urge passage, and I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I think Members can hear that we have got 
passion here, and Ms. Johnson, Ms. Esty, and I believe that talk is 
cheap, and this is actually going to do something. If we are going to 
talk about STEM continually, and we are going to try and push this 
maybe into an arena that hasn't been pushed before, then let's do 
something. That is exactly what this is doing.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Knight) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 4254, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________