42 U.S.C. § 19211 — Early-career research fellowship program

(a) In general: The Director of the National Science Foundation may create a two-year pilot program. It gives awards to highly qualified early-career researchers so they can run their own research project. They can do this at a college, university, or participating federal research facility that they pick. The award lasts no more than two years. (b) Selection process: The Director picks award winners only from U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, and people lawfully admitted as permanent residents. (c) Outreach: The Director must reach out to recruit applicants who (1) come from every region of the country; (2) come from groups that have historically been underrepresented in STEM; and (3) graduated from, or plan to do research at, a variety of institution types, including: (A) HBCUs; (B) TCUs; (C) MSIs; (D) colleges not among the top 50 in yearly federal research funding; and (E) EPSCoR institutions (schools in states that get less federal research funding). (d) Special consideration: The Director must give special priority to applicants who graduated from, or plan to do research at, one of the institution types listed in (c)(3). (e) Reports from fellows: Within 180 days after the pilot program ends, each researcher who got an award must send the Director a report on how they used the money. (f) Report from the Director: Within 90 days after the pilot's second year ends, the Director must send Congress a report that includes: (1) a summary of how award money was used and what impact the program had; (2) statistics on award winners broken down by race, ethnicity, sex, location, age, years since finishing their doctorate, and institution type; and (3) if the program worked well, a plan to make it permanent.