NSF Broader Impacts: How to Write a Plan That Reviewers Take Seriously

What NSF Means by Broader Impacts

• 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

What Reviewers Actually Evaluate

• Specificity: Who exactly benefits? How many people? Through what activities?
• Credibility: Do you have the capacity, partnerships, and resources to do what you propose?
• Connection to research: How does your research enable or enrich these activities?
• Evaluation: How will you know if your activities worked? What metrics will you track?
• Sustainability: Will the impact continue after the grant ends?
• Significance: Does the scale of impact match the scale of the award?

Effective Broader Impacts Strategies

Undergraduate Research Involvement

• Specify how many undergraduates per year and what they will do
• Describe recruitment strategies to reach underrepresented students
• Explain mentoring structures and how students progress through the program
• Document outcomes: presentations, publications, graduate school placement
• Consider REU supplements or connections to existing REU programs

K-12 Partnerships

• Name the partner schools or programs you will work with
• Describe specific activities: classroom visits, curriculum modules, teacher workshops
• Explain how your research content translates into age-appropriate learning
• Include letters of collaboration from partner schools or organizations
• Address logistics: who delivers the activities, how often, and how you will evaluate learning

Public Engagement and Communication

• Museum exhibits, public lectures, or science festival demonstrations with attendance targets
• Open-access datasets, tools, or software that non-specialists can use
• Community science projects that involve the public in data collection
• Media engagement or science communication training for students in the lab
• Partnerships with journalism programs or science communication organizations

Broadening Participation in STEM

• Partner with existing programs (e.g., McNair Scholars, LSAMP, TRIO) rather than creating new infrastructure
• Design bridge programs, summer research experiences, or mentoring networks for specific populations
• Recruit from minority-serving institutions, community colleges, or tribal colleges
• Track outcomes: retention rates, degree completion, career placement
• Address systemic barriers, not just individual access — mentoring alone is not enough

Common Broader Impacts Mistakes

• Vague language: "We will engage diverse communities" says nothing without specifics
• Listing activities without evaluation: if you cannot measure it, reviewers doubt it will happen
• Disconnected from research: a robotics workshop is not Broader Impacts for a geology proposal unless you explain the connection
• Overpromising: claiming you will reach 10,000 students with no infrastructure is not credible
• Generic mentoring: "I will mentor graduate students" is part of your job, not a Broader Impact
• No partners: activities requiring community or school partnerships need letters confirming the relationship
• Last-minute additions: a single paragraph shows minimal effort and reviewers score accordingly

How to Structure Your Broader Impacts Section

• Clear statement of the societal problem or need your activities address
• Description of each activity with target audience, frequency, and scale
• Explanation of how activities connect to and leverage your research
• Qualifications and partnerships that establish credibility
• Evaluation plan with specific metrics and data collection approach
• Timeline showing when activities begin and how they scale over the award period
• Sustainability plan for continuing impact after the grant ends

How GrantCopilot Helps with Broader Impacts

• Templates with prompts for each element reviewers evaluate: specificity, credibility, connection, evaluation
• Directorate-specific guidance on Broader Impacts expectations and common activities in your field
• Checklists ensuring your plan addresses NSF merit review criteria throughout the proposal
• Examples of language patterns that communicate concrete plans rather than vague intentions
• Integration with the full proposal structure so Broader Impacts appears in the Project Summary, Project Description, and Budget Justification