Contact Us About Broader Impacts

UF CPET partners with UF research faculty, staff and students across campus and with education professionals across Florida. We offer decades of experience and educational resources throughout the state to help you and your research make a difference. For information on how we can collaborate with you to develop and/or implement your broader impact statement, please get in touch with us at any of the contacts listed below.

Dr. Mary Jo Koroly, Director

Center for Precollegiate Education and Training
University of Florida
334 Yon Hall, PO Box 112010
Gaineseville, FL 32611-2010

Phone: (352) 392-2310
Fax: (352) 392-2344
Email: cpet@cpet.ufl.edu

NSF Guidelines for Broader Impacts

Definition of Broader Impacts

Broader Impacts (BI) is one of two merit review criteria, along with Intellectual Merit, that the National Science Foundation (NSF) expects proposers to fully address in their proposals. The definitions of the two criteria, as noted in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (Ch. III Section A), are listed below:

1. Intellectual Merit: The potential to advance knowledge, and
2. Broader Impacts: The potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes

Requirements for Broader Impacts

The NSF revised the BI requirements in 2013 so that proposals no longer have to span five specific criteria.  In its Grant Proposal Guide (Ch. II Section C), the agency now only offers broad guidelines on how researchers can meet the BI requirement and potential social outcomes they can strive to achieve.

Guidance on How Broader Impacts Can Be Accomplished:

• Through the research itself (i.e., research that has potential to lead to breakthroughs in certain industries or contribute to solutions to societal problems)
• Through the activities that are directly related to specific research projects (e.g., using the research project as a training ground for students or early-career scientists)
• Through activities that are supported by, but are complementary to, the project (e.g., running an educational workshop for high school students on your research topic)

Examples of Target Outcomes for Broader Impacts Activities:

• Full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in STEM
• Improved STEM education and educator development at any level
• Increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology
• Improved well-being of individuals in society
• Development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce
• Increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others
• Improved national security
• Increased economic competitiveness of the United States
• Enhanced infrastructure for research and education

*Note that successful proposals often combine several different Broader Impacts approaches and target several different outcomes. For example, a researcher might describe the potential impact of the research itself on a particular industry but also involve undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds in the research through an REU program and run educational workshops on their research topic for high-school women.  Coming soon!! Check out our Successful Examples page to see the blend of BI activities that successfully funded UF faculty have proposed.