5 Steps to Building Strong Broader Impacts for National Science Foundation Proposals
Compiled by Carol Colaninno, CFDE Associate Director for Research and Scholarship
Broader impacts are activities that contribute to the achievement of societally relevant outcomes. A list of potential activities includes, but is not limited to, the activities listed in Step 1. These steps are modified from the Advancing Research Impact in Society’s (ARIS) Broader Impacts Toolkit and the National Science Foundation.
Step 1: Identify a broader impact activity that addresses one or more of the following NSF target outcomes. Think creative and transformative.
- Full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in STEM (Inclusion)
- Improved STEM education and educator development at any level (STEM education)
- Increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology (public engagement)
- Improved well-being of individuals in society (Societal well-being)
- Development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce (STEM workforce)
- Increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others (partnerships)
- Improved national security (national security)
- Increased economic competitiveness of the United States (economic competitiveness)
- Enhanced infrastructure for research and education (infrastructure)
The scope of the proposal and disciplinary standards (i.e., what is the expectation for my field?) affects how to consider and design your broader impacts. Generally, you do not need to include more than one of the activities listed above, but rather, you should have a strong, well-designed plan that connects your research to one of the above social outcomes.
Step 2: Identify your audience and if your audience is the right audience to work with.
Who is the audience for your broader impact activities? Your audience can include- Those involved with your research, such as postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate students. Think of ways to incorporate and support students who have been traditionally excluded from higher education and research;
- Expanding who you engage within the world of academics to involve community college partnerships, Minority Serving Institution (MSIs) partnerships, Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) partnerships, and professional organizations;
- Going beyond academic educational settings to include PK-12 students, PK-12 teachers, lifelong learners, and citizen science groups;
- Involving community partners such as non-profit organizations, industry partners, community organizations, etc.
Does this audience need to be engaged in these broader impact activities? Are the activities culturally relevant? Have the proposed activities been reviewed by representatives from your audience or someone who works with/is trusted by your audience?
Is the size of your audience aligned with the scope of your broader impact activities?
Is the length of engagement aligned with the scope and evidence-based practices?
How are you reaching and recruiting this audience?
Step 3: Articulate how your broader impact activities are creative, original, and/or potentially transformative, while building upon established literature.
Do the broader impact activities build on/follow/use evidence-based practices?
How do the broader impact activities support/strengthen/transform the knowledge the PI intends to generate
What is the potential to scale the broader impact activities to a regional or national level?
Step 4: Develop and articulate a broader impacts plan that is well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on sound, rational thinking.
What are your broader impact goals and/or objectives? Are these clearly defined in the proposal?
Is there a clear justification to conduct the broader impact activities? Are you citing the relevant literature justifying the broader impact activities?
Is there an articulated plan to conduct the broader impact activities?
Is there a plan to assess the outcomes of your broader impact activities?
Does the broader impact plan include citations relevant to the planned activities?
Step 5: Detail the qualifications of the individual and team conducting the broader impact activities.
Are the roles of the individual and team, including expertise, well described? Who is responsible for what broader impact activity?
Is the team the right size to execute the broader impact plan?
What is the evidence that the team has the necessary experience and networks to conduct the broader impact activities? Are there consultants who can help support the team that should be included?
What to avoid in your broader impacts plan
Do not be overly ambitious with your broader impacts plan. Committing too much time to the broader impact activities can be a distraction from your research and scholarly output. For example, do not plan to organize a conference or single-handedly develop a K-12 science curriculum.
Do not create a broader impacts plan that is not ambitious enough. Revising a course, designing a new course, mentoring undergraduate and graduate students in your lab could be okay, but reviewers may not see these activities as broader impacts. They might consider these activities as normal faculty responsibilities. If you plan to do these types of activities, go above and beyond what would be normal for course design or mentorship. For example, you could restructure the format of a course to a flipped or course-based undergraduate research (CRE/CURE) model, or you could implement a structured mentoring program in your lab to include a near-peer mentoring triad model.
Do not propose to create or redesign a course without speaking with our department chair first. Talk to your department chair about your broader impacts if you plan to include a course-based innovation.
Additional things to consider when developing your broader impacts plan
- Partnering with communities that have been historically marginalized in STEM, higher education, and the creation of scientific knowledge.
- How to bring the excitement of your STEM research to educational settings to inspire STEM teaching, learning, sense making, and knowledge.
- How to incorporate new technologies, tools, lab methods, field studies, etc., to achieve innovative educational outcomes.
- Ways of exploring new dissemination activities that bring STEM and STEM research to broader audiences and help postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students learn to disseminate scientific results to audiences outside of academia.
- Ways of engaging the public in scientific discovery through data collection, analyses, visualizations, and dissemination (e.g., citizen science, science pub, teen science café).
NSF is not prescriptive as to how they want you to present your broad impacts section, but your broader impacts section must be included as a section of the project summary and the project description. Present this section clearly, concisely, and however it works best for you within the guidelines of NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and the program rfp where you are submitting your proposal. It is always good to run your ideas for broader impacts by the NSF program officer who will be handling your proposal.
Broader Impacts Tips
Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS): NSF funded group that includes broader impact planning checklist, toolkit, and wizard.
American Society of Microbiology’s tips for nailing your broader impacts
Broader Impacts Section Examples
Sample Broader Impact Statements from Georgia Tech