National GEM Consortium Honors Reyes for Efforts to Increase Diversity in STEM Fields

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National GEM Consortium today honored Congressman Silvestre Reyes and Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson for their efforts in Congress to increase diversity in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.  The ceremony took place at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

“Increasing diversity in these critical fields is vital to America’s future competitiveness in the global economy,” Congressman Reyes said. “The National Gem Consortium has been an invaluable partner in helping to expand opportunities for underrepresented minorities in the STEM fields. I am honored to receive this recognition, and hope that together we will continue to make progress in our efforts to open the doors for more students to pursue careers in these critical fields.”

According to the National Science Foundation, only 9 percent of non-Asian minorities earned a degree in the STEM fields in 2003, despite accounting for nearly a third of the U.S. population. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, underrepresented minorities are less prepared to major in these fields in college and have greater difficulty in completing their undergraduate and graduate degrees. The National GEM Consortium saluted Reyes and Johnson for their efforts to “erase these disparities…in an increasingly global and knowledge-based world.” 

Congressman Reyes is co-founder and co-chairman of the House Diversity and Innovation Caucus. As Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Reyes has emphasized the need to improve diversity among the U.S. intelligence agencies.

The mission of The National GEM Consortium is to enhance the value of the nation’s human capital in engineering and science by increasing enrollment of underrepresented groups (African American, Native Americans, Hispanics) at the Master’s and Doctoral levels. GEM is a network of corporate and university partners working together to offer opportunities to talented students to obtain MS and Ph.D. degrees through paid summer internships and full tuition assistance. Over 3,000 GEM fellows have graduated since 1976.