The Biden administration dedicates $2 million to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in underrepresented STEM fields

The National Science Foundation, under President Joe Biden‘s administration, gave $2 million to help five universities bring DEI efforts into sectors of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The larger effort, receiving the lion’s share of the $2 million, is going toward Marine and Climate Sciences, which is described by the grant recipients as “some of the least diverse STEM disciplines” due to its “limited change in the number of black, indigenous, and people of color in MCS over the past 40 years.” As a result, the sector will be studied to see how it is promoting or inhibiting further diversity. Its objective will be “ensuring that our educational pathways yield an adequately educated and diverse corps of individuals.”

George Mason University received $1.2 million toward the study, Temple University got $400,000, the University of South Carolina got $375,000, and Salem State University rounded out the grant with $327,000. The study began in September of last year and will continue through August 2026.

Florida International University received a $323,000 grant to use “equity metrics and reflective engagement to transform engineering classrooms toward racial equity” through July 2028. Its goal is to improve “knowledge transfer connections among diverse constituencies and communities.” FIU prides itself in its 15th place ranking for undergraduate engineering enrollment, as over 8,500 students pursue bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees there.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

This comes as the NSF has held a goal of a 35% proportion of proposals featuring groups underrepresented in STEM since 2020. The year both of the above-mentioned grants were approved, the foundation hit its goal with a 37.1% proportion.

These proposals were among 13,894 made in the name of investigating minorities in STEM fields.