Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens has introduced her first sponsored bill as a newly-elected member of Congress. 

On Tuesday, Rep. Stevens, D-Rochester Hills, introduced the Building Blocks of STEM Act, which directs the National Science Foundation to more equitably allocate funding, with a focus on supporting STEM education research on early childhood. 

The bill also directs the NSF to support research on the factors that discourage or encourage girls to engage in STEM activities, including computer science.

Rep. Stevens introduced the bill on the House Floor alongside U.S. Rep. Jim Baird, R-IN, and U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen, D-NV, and Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV.

“I am so excited to join Congressman Baird to introduce my first bill as a Member of Congress, the Building Blocks of STEM Act,” said Stevens. “This bill helps ensure that our children are prepared to fill the jobs of tomorrow by directing public resources to study opportunities for early childhood STEM education and strategies to encourage girls to engage in STEM & computer science.”

Before serving in Congress, Stevens was the director of workforce development and manufacuturing engagement for the Digital Maufacturing and Design Innovation Institute. While there, she launched a STEM education program which introduced over 200 middle and high school students to digital manufacturing concepts and processes with hands-on teaching.

As a newly-elected congresswoman, Stevens serves as Chair of the Research and Technology Subcommittee of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, which has jurisdiction over the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technologies. 

Stevens said being a member of that subcommittee gives her oversight powers of those two agencies to review and examine how each are operating.

In an interview with The Oakland Press last month, Stevens cited the NSF’s grant-making process as needing some improvements and/or growth.

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