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Minority-serving institutions (MSIs), historically Black colleges and universities, and Tribal colleges and universities play a pivotal role in championing inclusivity and diversity within higher education systems across the nation. As catalysts for social change, they regularly engage in Broader Impacts (BI) work. However, these institutions often face challenges in resource allocation and a dearth of human capital to sustain vital operations, which hinders their capacity building efforts. This article explores how MSIs, exemplified by the City College of the City University of New York (CUNY), can empower faculty, staff, and trainees engaged in BI work to extend their influence beyond their institutions by adopting a community of practice and engagement (COPE) approach. By leveraging collective strengths of knowledge, expertise, and diversity, CUNY’s MSI campuses endeavor to foster a transformative ripple effect, shaping a more inclusive and equitable future through research and innovation. Beginning in Spring 2023, the City College of New York, in partnership with the Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) National Science Foundation–funded center, embarked on initiatives to understand the existing BI culture, knowledge, and challenges to enhance BI and research development capacity across the CUNY system. This article discusses the pilot efforts and lessons learned from these endeavors. 

The Broader Impacts (BI) activities required of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) often involve public engagement, including K-12 outreach, informal science education, public exhibits and performances, advocacy and policy change, and business and entrepreneurship. The ARIS Broader Impacts Toolkit (Advancing Research Impacts in Society, 2024) is an online resource designed to help researchers develop BI plans for their NSF proposals. Several elements of the Toolkit address critical aspects of public engagement, making the Toolkit a valuable resource for researchers new to BI or public engagement, especially when integrated into wider BI communities of practice. We discuss how the national-level BI Community of Practice (BI-CoP) developed and sustained by the NSF-funded Center for Advancing Research Impacts in Society (ARIS) contributed to the development and continuing evolution of an institutional-level BI CoP at a large land-grant public university. The personal narratives of members of the institutional-level BI-CoP reveal how the ARIS BI-CoP has supported their learning, fostered collaboration around BI at their institution, supported the development of an institutional BI-CoP, and increased their capacity to assist researchers with developing and implementing BI plans. The experiences of consultants and researchers demonstrate that supportive and well-resourced BI-CoPs at the national and institutional level are essential for making effective use of the Toolkit and developing BI plans that are innovative, inclusive, and impactful. 

This paper focuses on enhancing researchers’ ability to articulate and achieve societal impacts in their work using the ARIS Broad Impact (BI) Toolkit as a jumping off point. The authors conducted a survey of UNM researchers to understand their approach to societal impact and relationship-building in research projects. The key findings suggest that 1) researchers across disciplines and funding sources value societal impacts in their work; 2) most UNM researchers engage in collaborative relationships as part of their efforts to achieve broader societal impacts; and 3) while researchers feel confident in conceptualizing and carrying out activities related to broader societal impacts, they are less confident in writing BI statements for NSF proposals. Based on these findings, the authors recommend that research development professionals 1) emphasize the importance of finding meaning in research through its broader social impacts; 2) develop tools to support more intentional relationship-building in research projects; and 3) provide resources to help researchers translate their ideas into effective BI statements for proposals. The paper concludes by highlighting areas for further research, including student engagement, mentorship, and institutional questions about BI project development and evaluation. The authors argue that addressing these areas is crucial for enhancing the societal value and effectiveness of scholarly work, ultimately driving significant positive change through research. 

Research development professionals at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) used the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS) Broader Impacts (BI) Toolkit with early-career faculty preparing grant proposals for the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER). This prestigious career-development funding mechanism places unique emphasis on the integration of research and education, positioning awardees to enhance the impact of their research programs through education initiatives like curriculum development, outreach, and community engagement. However, many early-career faculty lack experience or training to develop robust education plans that are thoughtfully aligned with and responsive to their research. With the aim of developing practical ways to help faculty gain these skills, the study team used mixed methods to analyze the integration of research and education in CAREER proposals submitted by UNL faculty. These methods included using the ARIS BI Rubric to evaluate the proposals, convening two panel review discussions, and interviewing principal investigators about their ARIS BI Toolkit use and approach to research-education integration. Case study findings reveal that while effective and impactful integration can take many forms, early-career faculty and those who support them can utilize the ARIS BI Toolkit strategically to strengthen this aspect of grant proposals, positioning faculty to write well-integrated CAREER proposals and potentially contributing to long-term grant-writing and research program success. 

More than 27 years have passed since the National Science Board identified Broader Impacts as one of two merit criteria for National Science Foundation proposals. Yet many researchers remain less certain of how to develop, implement, and assess a broader impact plan. This multi-method study of a Broader Impacts (BI) rubric analyzed expert panels that included BI professionals and researchers for both content validity and reliability. Focus groups with researchers explicate the challenges researchers face regarding BI plans and the potential value of the rubric as a tool for use. It revealed the challenges researchers have in weighing proven strategies versus innovative strategies, a bias documented by other scholars. Researchers stated concern with how to weigh the different facets of the rubric to arrive at a single score. Moreover, researchers reported that their disciplinary field influenced how they interpreted the audiences whose needs and interests may be met through BI plans. These distinctions represent a range of different types of community engaged scholarship (e.g., public information network, community-campus partnership, K-12 schools’ partnerships). Finally, researchers found the BI rubric useful in evaluating and developing their own BI plans as well as their role in panels to ultimately strengthen the field of funded BI work. 

The National Science Foundation, a United States federal agency supporting STEM research, puts special emphasis on research impacts in society, and requires each funded research project to have “broader impacts” outside of conventional academic scholarship. As “broader impacts” have become an important part of the STEM research landscape in the U.S., most academic researchers need guidance and support in their broader impact plans. Focusing on a mid-size STEM-focused university, our research identified three major areas that matter to academic researchers: (1) autonomy of the researcher and non-prescriptive nature of broader impacts, (2) impact identity and personal connection to broader impacts, and (3) a critical engagement with diversity and inclusion in research and education. Combining these findings with a broader impacts professional’s reflections, we examine the ways in which broader impacts resources such as the ARIS Toolkit can assist academic researchers. We argue that by constructing dialogues between faculty researchers and broader impacts professionals, the research culture in the U.S. can turn into an ecosystem that supports meaningful, inclusive, and transformative STEM practices. 

This article offers community partner perspectives on the National Science Foundation–funded Broader Impacts (BI) Toolkit, a new digital tool researchers can use to improve the societal relevance of their research. Partners suggest three ways the toolkit could be improved moving forward, underscoring the importance of relationship building to any BI activity. 

Increasing emphasis is being placed by granting agencies on the need for specialists who support the translation of research into societal benefits. This societal benefit is often referred to as broader impacts (BI), and BI is important for acquiring grant funding and fulfilling land-grant university missions, among other benefits. However, few career paths lead directly to becoming a BI professional, so individuals moving into BI work need to transition from another career, which requires learning about BI. This case study examines the experiences of four former classroom teachers making the transition to both teacher educator (a teacher of teachers) and BI professional, and the ways in which their transition was supported using the Center for Advancing Research Impacts in Society (ARIS) BI Toolkit. Implications for onboarding using this toolkit are described and recommendations are made for how to use the ARIS BI Toolkit for transitioning BI professionals. 

The Center for Advancing Research Impacts in Society (ARIS) Broader Impacts (BI) Toolkit is a collection of online, interactive tools focused on the generation of broader impacts activity plans that satisfy the criteria of proposals submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF). The BI Toolkit includes a set of ARIS Guiding Principles, a Planning Checklist, the BI Wizard, and the BI Rubric. Over a three-year period, the ARIS BI Toolkit was pilot-tested with BI professionals located within ten institutions geographically distributed across the United States. The participating institutions represented a range of R1 and R2 institutions, Land-Grant Institutions, and Minority Serving Institutions with BI professionals serving in centralized and decentralized capacities within the institutions. This paper discusses the development of the ARIS BI Toolkit, its evolution through usability testing, a description of the BI Toolkit as it currently exists, and goals for future expansion. 

This article features a case study conducted by University of Oklahoma’s Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) of faculty National Science Foundation CAREER research grant proposals. Specifically, of interest to us is how the Broader Impacts sections of our faculty’s applications might be strengthened with the help of the Advancing Research in Society (ARIS) rubric. We are also concerned with key principles of community engagement and how the ARIS rubric can lead faculty to develop mutually beneficial collaborations that increase community capacity and science literacy. Our study is described in the larger context of our mission and work at CFE and the nationwide imperative to orient higher education and research toward a larger societal good.