Broader Impacts at The Ohio State University and Beyond

What are Broader Impacts?

In a narrow sense, the term broader impacts (BI) refers to one of two merit review criteria used to judge proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF). More broadly (no pun intended), broader impacts refers to the potential impact STEM research has to benefit society outside of the lab and beyond the confines of a single scientific discipline. For those working outside of NSFs funding mechanisms, broader impacts are often referred to as research impacts or societal impacts. While this page focuses on broader impacts as defined by the NSF, the resources presented here hold value for the STEM research community regardless of the funding source.

In 2021, Ohio State was one of six institutions selected to participate in the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society's (ARIS) Program to Enhance Organizational Research Impact Capacity (ORIC) (NSF Award #1810732). Other institutions in the 2021 cohort include Mississippi State University, Northern Illinois University, University of California-Merced, University of Vermont, and the University of the Western Cape. This year-long initiative provided mentorship, professional development, resources, and a community of practice through which each institution developed infrastructure to support broader impacts within their respective STEM research communities.

In the fall of 2021, two workshops, Broader Impacts 101 and Broader Impacts Partnerships, were offered to faculty, graduate students, postdocs and research scientists. Additional workshops on other aspects of broader impacts will be developed in the future along with other resources.

Questions? Contact Courtney Price at price.1217@osu.edu.