In his January 2006 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush announced the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) to encourage American innovation and strengthen the nation's ability to compete in the global economy. This ambitious strategy will increase federal investment in critical research, ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in opportunity and innovation, and provide American children with a strong foundation in math and science.
The American Competitiveness Initiative commits $5.9 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2007, and more than $136 billion over the next 10 years, to increase investments in research and development, strengthen education, and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation. Included in this effort are key federal agencies that support basic research programs in the physical sciences and engineering. They include the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology.
As part of the ACI, Academic Competitiveness Grant and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (National SMART Grant) programs make available $790 million in the 2006-07 academic year and $4.5 billion over the next five years to encourage students to take more challenging courses in high school and to pursue college majors in high demand in the global economy, such as science, mathematics, technology, engineering and critical foreign languages.
The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans convened a conference—"The American Competitiveness Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities for Hispanic Serving Institutions" [PDF, 1.1M]—in April 2007 at The University of Texas at El Paso to lay the groundwork for the steps that must be taken to respond to the ACI challenge. A range of topics designed to help expand and strengthen the research capacity and infrastructure of HSIs were addressed over the course of the conference in a framework that engaged other HSIs, the federal government, K-12 public schools, the high-tech commercial industry, and Hispanic science and engineering associations. Education reform and academic preparation, particularly in math and science, were integral to the discussions that took place over the three days.
Conference sessions and forums addressed a range of pertinent topics including: recruitment of Hispanic students into the STEM fields as well as retention and degree attainment in those fields; education reform, including academic preparation in math and science; technology transfer and technology commercialization; and HSI research capacity building. A variety of expert speakers and panelists led discussions and provided substantive information in each of the scheduled sessions. The presenters were drawn from institutions of higher education, including Hispanic Serving Institutions, key federal agencies, Hispanic professional technology organizations, the high-tech commercial industry and the U.S. Department of Education.