Congress Establishes Bipartisan Graduate Student Caucus
Graduate students and postdocs play a critical role in the advancement of our nation’s research enterprise and economic competitiveness, and their needs should be prioritized at the federal level.
The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which was signed into law earlier this week, brings into focus the importance of the STEM workforce for our nation’s competitiveness in science and technology. This is evidenced by several provisions such as Sec. 10313 (Graduate STEM Education), which includes mentoring, career training, and professional development funding for graduate students and postdocs.
Prior to this, last month, Congress established a new bipartisan Graduate Research and Development Caucus (GRAD Caucus), dedicated to the needs of graduate students, who play a “unique and critical role that graduate researchers play in innovation, education, and bolstering our economy.” This is a significant development on Capitol Hill towards supporting the next generation STEM workforce.
Led by Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA-18), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL-12), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA-19), and Stephanie Bice (R-OK-5), the GRAD Caucus initial one-pager outlined three focus areas:
- Engage the full talent pool: Ensure accessibility to graduate school for people of all backgrounds including underrepresented minorities, rural students, and international scholars.
- Support and develop graduate researchers: Improve mentorship and advising, fund fellowships and traineeships, and promote holistic growth and well-being.
- Provide pathways for future impact: Expand opportunities and pathways for these researchers to apply their unique skills to further support society and tackle national challenges post-graduate school.
Spearheaded by graduate student leaders at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the GRAD Caucus aims to provide legislators with briefings on specific policies and programs, connections to graduate researchers, and a forum to advance policy ideas.
“We wanted to expand education for members of Congress and staff on what graduate students do,” says Divyansh Kaushik, a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University and President of CMU’s Graduate Student Assembly.
Benjamin Lane, Doctoral Candidate at MIT and Chair of the External Affairs Board for the MIT Graduate Student Council, hopes the GRAD Caucus will “create a more direct link between graduate students and legislators to start addressing the systemic problems in graduate education and research.”
Readers should follow future developments from Congress and the administration that support the STEM workforce, including activities of the GRAD Caucus.
View the initial post on the JSPG blog.
