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

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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


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