6. Articulate Broader Impacts
Education and outreach initiatives provide one “cord” of your broader impacts story in addition to research and diversity cords. Identify how your proposed EWD initiatives have the potential to benefit society and contribute to societally relevant outcomes such as those mentioned in the NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures guide:
- Fuller Participation of Women, Persons with Disabilities, and Underrepresented Minorities in STEM
- Improved STEM Education and Educator Development
- Increased Public Scientific Literacy
- Improved Well-Being of Individuals
- Development of a Diverse, Globally Competitive Workforce
- Increased Partnerships among Academia, Industry, Government, and Non-Profits
- Improved National Security
- Increased U.S. Economic Competitiveness
- Informed Public Policy
- Enhanced Research and Education Infrastructure
Remember: broader impact statements describe outcomes not logistics. Project logistics belong in your education or EWD plan or research methodology.*
NSF has three required locations for broader impact statements that should reflect all three cords of research, diversity, and education and outreach:
- Proposal narrative—Labeled subsection within the narrative that fully describes societal benefits of project activities
- Summary—The third textbox on the summary page has a shorter, overview version of the narrative subsection.
- Prior NSF Support—Labeled subsections within each required “prior NSF support” report summarizing societal benefits of a prior project.
*A rare exception is if a solicitation, such as in the NSF CISE Cyber-Physical Systems program, specifically requires a broader impacts heading for text that includes both logistics and societally relevant
Questions?
If you have any questions or would like to request hands-on help from our team of grant writers, please contact Sally Bond at sbond@purdue.edu.
