A set of bills introduced in Congress on Thursday would focus on improving undergraduate education in mathematics and science to produce better-prepared schoolteachers and scientists in those fields.

The bills, sponsored by members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, are among many introduced on this issue in recent months. All of the measures follow calls by President Bush and industry leaders to improve science education in order to help ensure America’s global competitiveness.

But many of the other bills focus on efforts in elementary and secondary schools. The measures introduced on Thursday are unusual in their emphasis on colleges, an approach that witnesses at a recent committee hearing said was necessary to produce qualified schoolteachers (The Chronicle, March 16).

One bill, the Science and Mathematics Education for Competitiveness Act (HR 5358), would authorize the expansion of existing, college-oriented programs at the National Science Foundation. One of the programs provides grants to colleges and grants to undergraduates studying science, and another gives money to colleges to increase the number of those students.

Another bill proposed Thursday, the Early Career Research Act (HR 5356), would authorize increased spending for an NSF program that finances younger faculty members, to help them establish independent research programs in emerging fields of science.

The bills’ sponsors include the Science Committee’s chairman, Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert, a New York Republican.