Washington, DC – Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson this morning gave remarks at the Seventh Annual NSF ITEST Summit, a two-day event focused this year on “STEM Career Development: Nurturing Interest, Persistence & STEM Self-Efficacy.”  The Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and it supports research and projects to prepare K-12 students to enter the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

In her speech, Congresswoman Johnson cautioned that the United States is no longer the worldwide leader in STEM education.

“The rate of STEM degree production in the United States has been slowing,” she said.  “In the meantime, other countries are getting the picture that the key to success in the 21st century is creating a robust STEM workforce.  The U.S. is no longer losing its competitive edge.  The statistics are clear: we have lost it.

“Ultimately, a nation that graduates a high number of STEM professionals will be a nation that thrives in the 21st century,” Congresswoman Johnson continued.  “These fields are among the highest-paying and the most stable.  Their rate of growth is increasing exponentially as our society grows increasingly technological and our world becomes more interconnected.  The time to act is now.”

Congresswoman Johnson also emphasized the importance of expanding STEM educational opportunities to female and minority students in her remarks.

“The underrepresentation of women and minority groups in STEM fields is a severe impediment to the formation of an adequate American STEM workforce,” she said.  “The increased education and participation of this segment of the workforce is essential to supplying the American economy with the STEM expertise the country needs to innovate and remain competitive.”

Congresswoman Johnson helped to draft the America COMPETES Act, bipartisan legislation that created and expanded a wide range of science and education programs, and which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007.  In the 111th Congress, she has introduced the Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Act, which directs each federal science agency to hold workshops on gender bias with members of grant review panels and mathematics, science and engineering chairs of institutions of higher education.  It will also provide extended research grant support for federally-funded researchers who have care-giving responsibilities.

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U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure and a senior member of the Science Committee. She represents the 30th Congressional District of Texas, which, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, & South Oak Cliff; all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster & Wilmer and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla.