42 U.S.C. § 19155 — Cultural and institutional barriers to expanding the academic and Federal STEM workforce

(a) Best practices: (1) Development of guidance — Not later than 12 months after August 9, 2022, the Director, working with the interagency working group on inclusion in STEM and using existing agency guidance where applicable, must broadly share with recipients of federal research funding best practices for: (A) conducting periodic climate surveys of STEM departments and divisions, focused on identifying and addressing cultural or institutional barriers to recruiting, retaining, or advancing groups historically underrepresented in STEM studies and careers; and (B) providing educational opportunities, including workshops, for STEM professionals on current research about unbiased recruitment, evaluation, and promotion of undergraduate and graduate students and research personnel. (2) Establishment of policies — Consistent with the guidance developed under (1): (A) the NSF Director, working with the heads of federal research agencies, must develop a policy that (i) applies at least to doctoral-degree-granting institutions receiving federal research funding, and (ii) requires each such institution, not later than 3 years after August 9, 2022, and to the extent practicable, to report to the NSF Director on activities and policies developed and implemented based on the guidance; and (B) each federal research agency with a federal laboratory must maintain, or develop and implement, practices and policies for that laboratory for the purposes described in (1), and, not later than three years after August 9, 2022, each such laboratory must report to its agency head on those practices and policies. (b) Report to Congress: Not later than four years after August 9, 2022, the NSF Director must submit a report to Congress summarizing and analyzing the types and frequency of activities and policies developed and carried out under (a), based on the reports submitted under (a)(2).