Broader Impacts

NSF's Five Core Broader Impacts Areas

NSF identifies five areas where proposals can demonstrate broader impacts. You do not need to address all five — focus on the areas most relevant to your work and where you can make a genuine contribution.

• Full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in STEM — Recruiting, mentoring, or creating opportunities for underrepresented groups
• Improved STEM education and educator development — Curriculum development, teacher training, or educational tool creation at any level
• Increased public scientific literacy and engagement — Science communication, public lectures, museum partnerships, or media outreach
• Improved well-being of individuals in society — Health, safety, environment, or quality-of-life improvements from the research
• Enhanced infrastructure for research and education — New facilities, instruments, databases, or networks that benefit the broader community

What Makes a Strong Broader Impacts Statement

The most common mistake is treating Broader Impacts as an afterthought or listing generic activities. NSF reviewers want to see a plan that is specific, achievable, and integrated with the research itself.

• Be specific — Name partner organizations, schools, or communities you will work with
• Show feasibility — Describe how you will carry out the activities and what resources you will use
• Measure outcomes — Explain how you will assess whether your broader impacts activities are working
• Integrate with research — The best broader impacts flow naturally from the research rather than being bolted on
• Build on experience — Reference past broader impacts activities that demonstrate your track record

Broader Impacts vs. Broader Significance

Applicants sometimes confuse broader impacts with broader significance. Broader significance describes why your research question matters to science or society. Broader impacts are the specific activities you will undertake to ensure the benefits of your work reach beyond the research team. A proposal about climate modeling might have broad significance, but its broader impacts would describe the outreach plan — such as working with K-12 teachers to develop climate literacy curriculum.