Broadening the Impacts of
Scientific Research
Joan Peckham
Professor, Computer Science
Chair, Computer Science & Statistics
University of Rhode Island
My Perspective
•MS – Mathematics; MS & PhD Computer Science
•Program Director –
•NSF – National Science Foundation
•CISE/CNS Education & Workforce Cluster – 2008-2010
•REU Sites, CPATH, BPC, CreativeIT, PSLC
•Computational Thinking Evangelist
•OCI/LWD – REU Sites, CI-TEAM, CE-21, Cyberlearning, CITraCS, ADVANCE, GRFP, NITRD
•Professor •URI – University of Rhode Island
•Conceptual data modeling & interdisciplinary efforts
•In a previous life
•Public School Teacher of 7-12 Mathematics
Intellectual Merit
• How important is the proposed activity to advancing
knowledge and understanding within its own field or
across different fields?
• How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team)
to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer
will comment on the quality of prior work.)
• To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and
explore creative, original, or potentially
traNSFormative concepts?
• How well conceived and organized is the proposed
activity?
• Is there sufficient access to resources?
Broader Impacts
• How well does the activity advance discovery and
understanding while promoting teaching, training, and
learning?
• How well does the proposed activity broaden the
participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender,
ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)?
• To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for
research and education, such as facilities,
instrumentation, networks, and partnerships?
• Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance
scientific and technological understanding?
• What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to
society?
Broader Impacts
Examples (From the GPG)
• Innovations in teaching and training (e.g., development of
curricular materials and pedagogical methods)
• Contributions to the science of learning
• Development and/or refinement of research tools; computation
methodologies, and algorithms for problem-solving
• Development of databases to support research and education
• Broadening the participation of groups underrepresented in
science, mathematics, engineering and technology
• Service to the scientific and engineering community outside of
the individual’s immediate organization
• More examples at:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/broaderimpacts.pdf
Proposed Changes in Broader Impacts
Merit Review Criteria
www.nsf.gov/nsb/publications/2011/06_mrtf.jsp
• All must be of highest intellectual merit & have potential to advance
frontiers of knowledge
• Collectively should advance broad set of important national goals
including
– Increased economic competitiveness of US & globally competitive
workforce
– Increased participation of women & persons with disabilities &
underrepresented minorities in STEM
– Partnerships between academia and industry
– Improved undergraduate and pre-K-12 STEM education and teacher
development
– Increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science
and technology
– Increased national security
– Enhanced infrastructure for research and education, including
facilities, instrumentation, networks and partnerships
Proposed Changes in Broader Impacts
Merit Review Criteria
– Broader impacts may be achieved through
• The research itself
• Activities that are directly related to specific research
projects
• Activities that are supported by the project but ancillary
to the research.
All are valuable approaches for advancing important
national goals
– Ongoing application of these criteria should be subject
to appropriate assessment developed using reasonable
metrics over a period of time.
Broader Impacts
Teaching & Training
• K-12 Involvement
– Standards & learning objectives
– Teacher training
– Involvement in classroom or after-school activities
• Undergraduate
– Research
– General education
– Integration of CT into all disciplines
– Professional organizations
Broader Impacts
Examples
• Mentoring
– Students
– Young faculty
• Broadening participation
– Underrepresented and underserved groups
– Involvement with four year, HBCU, HIS institutions
– Junior colleges
– Citizen Scientists
Broader Impacts
Examples
• Dissemination to groups outside your discipline
– Other disciplines
– Science museums
– Press kits, multi-media presentations of your work
– Policy makers - Congress and state legislatures
– Interdisciplinary groups
• Conferences
• Research partners
Broader Impacts Goals
Examples
• Explain science and scientific results to
audiences that would not normally have
access to information
• Render your results useful to industry,
government, classrooms, other disciplines
• Develop educational materials that are useful
to public schools, parents, citizens
Attention to Broader Impacts
Strengthen Research Agenda
• Analyze
– Your strengths and training
– Needs and interests of your research community
– Outstanding and emerging problems
– Opportunities for funding and engagement
Solicitations with
Strong Broader Impacts (OCI & CISE)
• REU – Research experience for undergraduates
• CISE and OCI educational solicitations
– CI-TEAM – Training the next gen to use and build the
nation’s cyberinfrastructure
– CI-TraCS – Interdisciplinary post-doctoral program in
computational science
– Cyberlearning – Educational research in cybertools
and learning
– CE-21 – Computing – Broadening and Education in K14
Solicitations with
Strong Broader Impacts
(EHR/OIA/OISE)
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•
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TUES – Undergraduate education
ITEST –K-12
IGERT – Interdisciplinary graduate programs
PIRE - International
ADVANCE – Research or institutional
transformation
“Evidence-Based” is Important
• Most educational and integrative programs
now require evidence of outcomes to be
collected and reported
• All require strong project design with
accompanying questions to be tested
Connection to Existing Literature &
Practice is Important
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•
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NCWIT – www.ncwit.org
BPC - http://www.bpcportal.org
SLCs – Science of Learning Centers
Computational Thinking –
– http://www.computingportal.org/CE21
• Social science literature
• Educational literature
• Management literature
Other Strategies
•Serve as a panelist at NSF
•Consider a rotation at NSF
•Volunteer for Education, BP, or other
conference tracks
•Industry (Examples – Maker Faires,
Geek Dinners, Consulting, Economic
Development groups