Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

The America Competes Act, legislation first enacted three years ago, dramatically increased the nation’s investment in science and technology, and put a renewed emphasis on mathematics and science education.  Bingaman, Senator Lamar Alexander and then-Senator Pete Domenici were part of a core bipartisan group that began the push for passage of an American competitiveness bill several years ago.

Today, the House of Representatives approved an extension of the America Competes Act; the Senate approved the measure last week.  The bill will now be sent to the president for signature.

“In difficult economic times like these, we must be aggressive about creating good jobs now and in the future.  America Competes is focusing our nation’s resources on the essential goal of remaining competitive in the global economy,” Bingaman said.

The re-authorized America Competes Act continues to double the authorized funding for the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science on a path to double over 10 years, which will end in Fiscal Year 2013.

Under the new Competes law, Department of Energy laboratories will be partners in this effort in several ways, including “adopting” schools to strengthen their math and science capability.

The new law also extends programs that strengthen the skills of math and science teachers and encourages mathematicians and scientists to become teachers.            The bill also supports other key New Mexico initiatives, including the following:

The National Science Foundation science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program--The New Mexico Alliance for Minority Participation, based at NMSU, is a STEM recipient.  Eastern New Mexico University, as well as New Mexico State University-Carlsbad, participates in this New Mexico program.  (http://www.nmsu.edu/~nmamp/)

NASA’s Space Grant College and Fellowship Program--New Mexico participates in this program through a consortium led by NMSU.  (http://spacegrant.nmsu.edu/);

New Mexico MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement)—A program designed to prepare students, particularly minority youth, for college and careers in technical fields through tutoring, independent studies, academic and career counseling, field trips, competitions, summer programs, scholarship incentives, and teacher professional development. The program involves New Mexico Tech and the DOE national laboratories.  (www.nmmesa.org/)

The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program (http://www.nmepscor.org/);

Develops “Discovery Science and Engineering Innovation Institutes” which will benefit Sandia Laboratories collaborative efforts with New Mexico Universities to train the engineer of the 21st century in such areas as nanoscience and Microsystems.

Complements New Mexico’s efforts to strengthen K-12 math and science education, by expanding access to the Summer Institutes for teachers at the National Labs so more New Mexico teachers can participate in these very successful programs.  Further, the bill would increase access to Advanced Placement programs, ensuring more New Mexico teachers are trained to teach Advanced Placement and more students have access to these critical courses of study.

A complete summary can be found online.