Enhance your grant proposal by collaborating with OMSI to create a customized Broader Impacts plan for your National Science Foundation or any other proposals. OMSI can provide letters of support, a scope of work, budget and other required documentation. Let OMSI’s team of experienced educators, program developers, and science communicators help broaden the reach of your research.

When assessing NSF proposals, reviewers evaluate all proposals against two criteria:

  • Intellectual Merit: The Intellectual Merit criterion encompasses the potential to advance knowledge, and
  • Broader Impacts: The Broader Impacts criterion encompasses the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.

The Broader Impacts section of your proposal should discuss the broader impacts of the proposed activities. Broader impacts may be accomplished through the research itself, through activities directly related to specific research projects, or through activities supported by and that are complementary to the project.

NSF values the advancement of scientific knowledge and activities that contribute to the achievement of societally relevant outcomes. Such outcomes may include:

  • Full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (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 people 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 US
  • Enhanced infrastructure for research and education

For more information about NSF proposal requirements, review the NSF Proposal Processing and Review. 


Ways to Collaborate

  • Include tuition for the Science Communication Fellowship for you or your research team
  • Co-create a customized class on the topic of your research for OMSI educators to teach locally, or for OMSI educators to take on the road throughout the Pacific Northwest.
  • Develop a robust, hands-on exhibit component that OMSI educators can use at the museum.
  • Let the OMSI evaluation team prepare an in-depth report on the effectiveness of your Broader Impacts activities.


Get started! 

Check out OMSI's science communications services and click on “Broader Impacts” to learn more. Or contact OMSI’s Senior Science Communication Specialist Amanda Fisher.
Please note: For complex collaborations, OMSI may need 3-6 weeks to prepare a full Broader Impacts plan and accompanying materials.