98th ESA Annual Meeting (August 4 -- 9, 2013)

August 03 - 09, 2013

IGN 3

Modeling Successful Broader Impacts Programs in Ecology

What characteristics make for a successful Broader Impacts project? The National Science Foundation recently reviewed Merit Review criteria after reports of confusion about the Broader Impacts criterion and inconsistent treatment of the criterion in panel reviews. The NSF board sought to clarify the Broader Impact criterion, stating that promotion of education and broader participation by underrepresented groups are still stressed, but that these goals can be achieved through the research itself or complementary activities. Furthermore, the board emphasized the benefit of coordination among PIs, projects, and institutions, as well as aggregated, rather than project specific, assessment of Broader Impacts. Please join us for an Ignite session in which NSF-funded ecologists and an NSF program officer share the successes and lessons learned during the planning and implementation of Broader Impacts projects. Speakers represent a diversity of career backgrounds and will speak on topics ranging from research training of local students in South America to Art + Science collaborations in the United States. The session format and content will be ideal for late-stage graduate students, post-docs, and early career ecologists to learn about a wide range of funded Broader Impacts projects. For those interested in forging new partnerships or joint proposals, the Ignite session will dovetail with a Broader Impacts workshop that will support interaction among interested ecologists.