Broader Impact Guidance for Florida Ocean Scientists: Process, Products and Outcomes

In response to the 2011 National Science Board report National Science Foundation’s Merit Review Criteria: Review and Revision, in 2012 significant changes were made to the portions of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Grant Proposal Guide that describe the Foundation’s expectations with respect to the Broader Impacts (BI) criterion and what reviewers should look for in assessing the quality of the required BI components of proposals. Over the past 5 years, COSEE Florida (the Florida Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence) has provided individualized content and editorial ‘coaching’ on Broader Impacts for Florida scientists and educators submitting proposals to NSF.

As of September 2015, 32% of the plans prepared with our guidance have been associated with projects that have received support. This presentation will review 1) the current BI guidance provided by NSF in the 2012 and subsequent editions of the Grant Proposal Guide, 2) the administrative process used by COSEE Florida to identify and assist scientists in understanding these changes and preparing fundable BI plans, 3) the characteristics of submitted plans in terms of type of plan, PI career stage and demographics 4) ‘lessons learned’ about plan strengths and weaknesses and 5) the products developed (or currently under development) as COSEE Florida legacy documents to guide current and future scientists in addressing the Broader Impacts criterion. Resources developed by other Centers in the national COSEE network and the new National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) will also be described.