OVERVIEW

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) works to promote the progress of science and maintain our Nation's scientific leadership and global competitiveness. As such, NSF strives to encourage the full participation of all Americans in STEM and to remove barriers to their doing so.

As part of these efforts, In 2021, NSF joined over 90 federal agencies to implement Executive Order (E.O) 13985, "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government". This E.O. called for a "comprehensive approach for the Federal Government to transform itself — for fairness and equity to become not just ideals, but principles embedded in the daily practices by which Government serves its people."

The successful implementation of E.O. 13985 is a top priority for the Foundation. To meet the requirements of the E.O., Director Panchanathan established the Agency Equity Team (AET) to plan for and conduct equity work. The AET, comprised of a robust cohort of individuals from across the Foundation, meets regularly to develop the agency's Equity Action Plan.

NSF's Equity Action Plan outlines five focus areas for the Foundation to:

• Implement NSF's Revised Public Access Plan to increase equitable access to NSF-funded research,
• Increase participation in FAR-based solicitations and awards to promote an inclusive contracting environment,
• optimize demographic data collection to support robust equity assessments,
• Enhance NSF's harassment prevention efforts to further reduce sexual and other forms of harassment, and;
• Create opportunities everywhere to reach the "Missing Millions" and diversify STEM.

NSF's Equity Action Plan will serve as a living document to ensure underrepresented and underserved communities have full and equal access to NSF resources and can successfully contribute to the scientific enterprise.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Expanding the Broadening Participation in STEM Portfolio, including the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion Across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) program.
• NSF also participates in the Year of Open Science, the federal government's interagency effort to promote equity in Public Access and Open Science.
• To further address sexual and other forms of harassment, NSF's Office of Equity and Civil Rights (OECR) appointed a Sexual Assault/Harassment Prevention and Response (SAHPR) Program Manager
• As a result of its ongoing efforts to increase participation in FAR-based solicitation and awards processes, NSF is on track to meet and exceed agency goals for small business participation for a consecutive fiscal year.
• OECR has also engaged in collaborative discussions and benchmarking with ten (10) federal agency partners to collect information on types of SAHPR support services offered, track and report incidents, measure success, and program logistics.

PREVIOUS REPORTS

Read NSF's 2022 Equity Action Plan to learn about the agency's efforts to ensure an equitable experience for individuals in STEM.

RESOURCES

Whitehouse.gov Equity Microsite - Findings from the year-long equity process agencies have engaged in and executive summaries of the equity action plans submitted by the largest Federal agencies.

Performance.gov Equity Microsite - find all agency equity action plans, links to agency equity pages, and other equity-related public documents.

To learn more about NSF's efforts to broaden participation and diversity in STEM, visit NSF's Broadening Participation Portfolio.