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GAO-15-291R 1 (2015-03-17)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaaisf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: c A U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 March 17, 2015 The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson Ranking Member Committee on Science, Space, and Technology House of Representatives The Honorable Rosa DeLauro House of Representatives The Honorable Louise M. Slaughter House of Representatives Women in STEM Research: Federal Agencies Differ in the Data They Collect on Grant Applicants Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972-which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities receiving any federal financial assistance '-women have made significant gains in many academic fields. Nevertheless, recent research shows that women continue to lag behind men in academic and professional advancement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. In fiscal year 2014, colleges and universities around the country received nearly $25 billion in federal funding for research in these fields.2 You requested data regarding federal grant-making to women and men for research in STEM fields. This report provides the results of the first part of an ongoing review related to the representation of women in federal STEM research programs. Specifically, this report focuses on the extent to which federal agencies collect data that could be used to analyze differences, if any, in federal grants to women and men in STEM fields.3 We selected for review the six federal agencies that together funded approximately 90 percent of the federal government's investment in basic and applied research in fiscal year 2010 through 2012: the Department of Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA), the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics 1Pub. L. No. 92-318, tit. IX, § 901, 86 Stat. 235, 373. 2This figure is reported annually by the National Science Foundation's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The fiscal year 2014 figure is preliminary and includes the total amount of federal obligations for research at universities and colleges in the fields of computer science and mathematics, engineering, environmental sciences, life sciences, and physical sciences. 3Federal research grants are typically awarded to the institution (e.g., college or university) that employs the researcher and not directly to the individual researcher. In this report, we primarily focused on data that federal agencies collect about characteristics of the principal investigators that submit proposals for grant funding, not the institution that employs them. GAO-15-291R STEM Research Page 1