Assessing Broader Impacts

MRS Advances ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (31-32) ◽  
pp. 1681-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oludurotimi O. Adetunji ◽  
Susan. D. Renoe
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Institutional Capacity ◽  
Principal Investigators ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
National Science ◽  
Guiding Principles ◽  
Growing Network ◽  
National Alliance

ABSTRACTThe National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) seeks to foster a community of practice that increases individual and institutional capacity for, and engagement in, broader impact (BI) activities and scholarship. NABI currently has 537 individual members representing more than 210 institutions and organizations who are part of the growing network of professionals. The National Science Foundation (NSF) evaluates all proposals on their intellectual merit and their broader impacts. Many investigators grapple with how to articulate and effectively engage broad audiences in materials science and STEM. Here, we describe the effort of NABI to address BI challenges, present the NABI document Broader Impacts, Guiding Principles and Questions for National Science Foundation Principal Investigators and Proposal Reviewers; highlight the impacts of NABI as a catalyst for building BI capacity; and provide an example of assessing an innovative program’s BI.

Up Close: Northwestern University Materials Research Center

MRS Bulletin ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 36-36
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Carr
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Advanced Materials ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Northwestern University ◽  
National Science ◽  
Materials Research ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering

The Materials Research Center at Northwestern University is an interdisciplinary center that supports theoretical and applied research on experimental advanced materials. Conceived during the post-Sputnik era, it is now in its 26th year.The Center, housed in the university's Technological Institute, was one of the first three centers funded at selected universities by the federal government in 1960. The federal government, through the National Science Foundation, now supplies $2.4 million annually toward the Center's budget, and Northwestern University supplements this amount. Approximately one third of the money is used for a central pool of essential equipment, and the other two thirds is granted to professors for direct support of their research. Large amounts of time on supercomputers are also awarded to the Materials Research Center from the National Science Foundation and other sources.The Center's role enables it to provide partial support for Northwestern University faculty working at the frontiers of materials research and to purchase expensive, sophisticated equipment. All members of the Center are Northwestern University investigators in the departments of materials science and engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry, or physics. The Materials Research Center is a major agent in fostering cross-departmental research efforts, thereby assuring that materials research at Northwestern University includes carefully chosen groups of faculty in physics, chemistry, and various engineering departments.

The Role of the National Science Foundation Broader Impacts Criterion in Enhancing Research Ethics Pedagogy

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 317-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich W. Schienke ◽  
Nancy Tuana ◽  
Donald A. Brown ◽  
Kenneth J. Davis ◽  
Klaus Keller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Ethics ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
National Science ◽  
Broader Impacts Criterion

scholarly journals Achieving Broader Impacts in the National Science Foundation, Division of Environmental Biology

BioScience ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean M. Watts ◽  
Melissa D. George ◽  
Douglas J. Levey
Keyword(s):  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Environmental Biology ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
National Science

Strategies for Avoiding Reinventing the Precollege Education and Outreach Wheel

Genetics ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 166 (4) ◽  
pp. 1601-1609
Author(s):  
Erin L Dolan ◽  
Barbara E Soots ◽  
Peggy G Lemaux ◽  
Seung Y Rhee ◽  
Leonore Reiser
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
Participant Satisfaction ◽  
Principal Investigators ◽  
Program Success ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
National Science ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Further Development

Abstract The National Science Foundation’s recent mandate that all Principal Investigators address the broader impacts of their research has prompted an unprecedented number of scientists to seek opportunities to participate in precollege education and outreach. To help interested geneticists avoid duplicating efforts and make use of existing resources, we examined several precollege genetics, genomics, and biotechnology education efforts and noted the elements that contributed to their success, indicated by program expansion, participant satisfaction, or participant learning. Identifying a specific audience and their needs and resources, involving K–12 teachers in program development, and evaluating program efforts are integral to program success. We highlighted a few innovative programs to illustrate these findings. Challenges that may compromise further development and dissemination of these programs include absence of reward systems for participation in outreach as well as lack of training for scientists doing outreach. Several programs and institutions are tackling these issues in ways that will help sustain outreach efforts while allowing them to be modified to meet the changing needs of their participants, including scientists, teachers, and students. Most importantly, resources and personnel are available to facilitate greater and deeper involvement of scientists in precollege and public education.

scholarly journals Introduction: Frontiers of Electron Microscopy in Materials Science

2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 377-377
Author(s):  
Wayne King
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Argonne National Laboratory ◽  
Brookhaven National Laboratory ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
National Science ◽  
Materials Research

The Ninth Frontiers of Electron Microscopy in Materials Science Conference (FEMMS 2003) was held October 5–10, 2003 at the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, CA. Major sponsors for this meeting included Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, National Science Foundation, and University of California at Davis. Sponsors also included LEO Electron Microscopy Ltd. (Carl Zeiss SMT), E. A. Fischione, Inc., Gatan, Inc., Thermo NORAN (Thermo Electron Corp.), FEI Company, Hitachi-HHTA, JEOL USA, Inc., Seiko Instruments, and CEOS GmbH.

Web Modules Linking Mechanics and Materials Science

2001 ◽  
Vol 684 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Roylance ◽  
C. H. Jenkins ◽  
S. K. Khanna
Keyword(s):  
National Science Foundation ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Aircraft Design ◽  
Engineering Curriculum ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Industrial Practice ◽  
Mechanics Of Materials ◽  
National Science ◽  
Materials Science And Engineering ◽  
The Subject

ABSTRACTIn 1996, the MIT subject 3.11 Mechanics of Materials in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering began using an experimental new textbook approach, written with a strongly increased emphasis on the materials aspects of the subject. It also included several topics such as finite element methods, fracture mechanics, and statistics that are not included in most traditional Mechanics of Materials texts. These nontraditional aspects were designed to fit the curriculum in Materials Science and Engineering, although admittedly Mechanics instructors in other departments and schools might not find all of them suitable for their own subjects. Further, a number of topics may be of interest in educational curricula and industrial practice outside traditional Mechanics subjects.One approach to increasing the flexibility and adaptability of this materials-oriented text is to make discrete and coherent portions of it available as stand-alone, web-available modules. Instructors could then pick and choose among topics, and assemble a subject offering in whatever way they choose. It would also be possible for instructors of specialty engineering subjects, for instance bridge or aircraft design, to add modules on mechanics of materials aimed at their own needs.A series of such modules are now being developed under a National Science Foundation Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) grant aimed at strengthening the links in the engineering curriculum between materials and mechanics. Each module is intended to be capable of standing alone, so that it will usually be unnecessary to work through other modules in order to use any particular one. This approach will be outlined and demonstrated, both as an approach to the specific topic of a mechanics-materials linkage, and as a possibility for more general implementation in distance learning.

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