In the current mixed legal climate, where diversity programs have been ruled constitutional and litigation continues over their appropriate boundaries, federal agencies are by and large continuing to fund programs aimed at increasing participation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by underrepresented minorities, women, and those with disabilities.

Some agencies are taking steps to see whether these efforts are working, a key concern after a recent Government Accounting Office report pointed out that little has been done on a government-wide basis to evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. The National Institutes of Health is actively assessing the effectiveness and coordination of its diversity programs, says Jeremy Berg, director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in Bethesda. (see "A Scientific Approach," page 8) "We're trying to find ways within NIH and more broadly to make a change, to create opportunities and awareness rather than mandating diversity." For example, all of NIH's training programs have requirements for minority recruitment, says Berg, and supplemental grants are available with most research grants to encourage recruitment of women and minority students. Another relatively new program encourages postdoctoral students to spend time teaching at minority-serving institutions.

Thomas L. Windham, senior advisor for Science and Engineering Workforce at the National Science Foundation's Office of the Director, says, "We are not only broadening participation of women and minorities but also including those with disabilities or from geographic regions underrepresented in the sciences." All NSF grant proposals must address broader societal impacts, of which diversity is one.

NSF funds a number of programs specifically aimed at underrepresented groups, Windham says. These range from grants for individual graduate students and postdoctoral students to awards to build STEM research capacity at historically black colleges. One program, called the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, encourages schools to develop and implement innovative models for recruiting, mentoring, and retaining minority students in doctoral programs, especially those who want to pursue academic careers.

An internal review published in May called into question the ability of one of these programs, the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), to meet its goal of increasing diversity. Thirty-five percent of trainees were women and nine percent were minorities, compared with national averages of PhD degree recipients of 38% and 12%, respectively. To increase the program's effectiveness, the NSF is trying to connect IGERT with other programs directed at supporting minority scholars and to recruit heavily at minority-serving institutions, Windham says.

While appropriations for diversity programs funded through the NSF and NIH have stayed relatively constant, funds provided through the federal Health Resources and Services Administration for educating minority students in the health professions plummeted from fiscal year 2005 to fiscal year 2006. The Health Careers Opportunity Program, which funds summer and weekend programs, internships, and other efforts to increase the pool of competitive minority and disadvantaged applicants to medical, dental, and pharmacy schools, saw its budget slashed from $35.6 million in 2005 to $4.0 million in 2006.

"A diverse healthcare work force or scientist work force is more interested in solving health disparities and more culturally competent in solving such disparities," says Dale Dirks, the Washington representative for the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools, based in Washington, DC. "Yet I haven't seen a time... when there was such overt disdain for programs ensuring diversity in the health professions."