Home Timeline Themes Tools

Partnerships for Broader Impacts Design

Overview of the BID Project

Broader Impacts work requires a wide range of knowledge, skills, and resources. Often, these assets are held by different individuals at different organizations. By connecting individuals and organizations that hold these various assets, we can increase capacity to do this work, and do it better.

Premise of the Broader Impacts Design (BID) project:

The premise of the Broader Impacts Design (BID) project is that by establishing a partnership that is durable – that is to say, one that is built to last beyond any individual collaborative project or person in a specific leadership position – universities and informal science education organizations (ISEs) can increase their capacity to focus on the quality of the Broader Impacts (BI) projects and can better align subsequent collaborative efforts with their own institutional priorities.

The goal is to establish durable, institutionalized partnerships that enable both organizations to more effectively support Principal Investigators in their Broader Impacts work.

The challenges associated with the traditional “ad hoc” approach are well documented. When collaborations are established at the level of the individual researcher, or Principal Investigator (PI), they often reach out to any informal learning expert whose contact info they can find – and often too late for effective planning. Particularly when planning is rushed, it can be difficult to make sure the resource needs and priorities of each partner are adequately addressed. Even when these efforts lead to funding, shared efforts often have an expiration date when the PI’s funding ends or their interest/position leads them elsewhere. The cycle repeats each time a new PI seeks ISE support for their own Broader Impacts work.

We hope that bringing organizations together at an institutional level can help reduce these redundancies and pave the way for higher impact collaborations.

What follows is an account of our experiences over the course of four years. This collection of resources is the product of many individuals, and depicts a work in progress. The project consisted of three core partnerships in New York, Washington, and Wisconsin. The experiences of these partners are outlined in detail here (below) and as timelines. Six additional partnerships (in California, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Vermont/New Hampshire) joined the project as a second cohort; the experiences of these groups is described through short vignettes on the “Themes” page.

The BID project was supported by a collection of collaborative research grants funded by the National Foundation and awarded to the Institute for Learning Innovation, Oregon State University, Pacific Science Center, The University of Washington – Bothell, The University of Wisconsin – Madison, The Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, Sciencenter in Ithaca, and Cornell University.

Washington

Special Partnership Characteristics and Considerations:

The collaboration between UW Bothell and Pacific Science Center — which spans nearly a decade — extends beyond specific programs and the research that fuels them. United by a passion for innovation and equity, the two institutions join forces to create science-based experiences that touch the entire community. In 2020, the Carnegie Foundation recognized the UW Bothell for its community engagement — collaborations with outside partners that lead to the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. The national recognition is for institutions doing exceptional work that enriches teaching and research while also benefitting the broader community. The longstanding partnership between UW Bothell and Pacific Science Center was emphasized in the Carnegie Foundation application and featured in the UW Bothell Magazine.

New York

Special Partnership Characteristics and Considerations:

The NY BID partnership was a new (Emerging) partnership at the onset of this project. Two collaborative staff positions, one in each institution were supported to establish, maintain and grow the partnership and to work through the opportunities and challenges that arise in emerging cross-institutional partnerships. To begin, a strategic position at Cornell in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP), under the leadership of the Vice Provost of Research was created. This was a deliberate choice to anchor a Broader Impacts Professional in a centralized university HUB, where all researchers/research administrators across the 15 schools and colleges would have access to Broader Impacts supports, services, partnerships and other resources s they were being developed to serve this community.The Sciencenter position was based in the education department and connected BID opportunities to museum leadership and education programs. Both the HEI and ISE staff members worked from the beginning of the partnership under the shared goal of moving the institutional structures toward more systematic, durable partnerships.

Wisconsin

Special Partnership Characteristics and Considerations:

The Wisconsin BID partnership was an established partnership at the onset of this project. The BID project allowed the partners to dive deep into the nuances of the existing partners and their programs, and to expand and hopefully “institutionalize” the activities. The primary activities that flourished under the BID grant include the WI Idea STEM Fellows program and the BI website serving as a campus resource for Broader Impacts to help establish pathways for broader impacts planning and implementation.

The broaderimpacts.wisc.edu website created by the BID project is a repository of many programs, partners, and resources on the UW-Madison campus and offers clear and effective guidance on developing a BI plan for NSF grant proposals.

The WI Idea STEM Fellows program is the local Portal to the Public initiative. We modified it to meet the demands and culture of the UW-Madison community. It is a cohort-based four (online due to COVID) or eight hour (in person prior and post COVID) that emphasizes cohort interactions and feedback and individual BI Identity that is intended to lead to a career trajectory in sharing of one’s science or engineering research.

Washington State BID team:

University of Washington Bothell and Pacific Science Center

The WA BID partnership was an existing partnership between a primarily undergraduate institution and a non-profit science museum at the onset of this project.

New York State BID team:

Cornell University and Sciencenter

The NY BID partnership was a new (Emerging) partnership between an R1 research university and a small non-profit science museum at the onset of this project.

Wisconsin State BID team:

University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

The WI BID partnership was an existing partnership between an R1 research university and a public engagement with science program housed on the UW-Madison campus.

University of Washington, Bothell, WA

University Partner Overview

UW Bothell is a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) located 13 miles north of the University of Washington Seattle campus. One of three campuses of the University of Washington, the UW Bothell is especially well known for the emphasis it places on experiential learning, hands-on undergraduate research and community engagement. The small campus community is also distinguished by its commitment to student access, retention and success after graduation. Enrollment totals more than 6,300 undergraduate and graduate students. The University of Washington Bothell’s Office of Sponsored Programs (Where the BID project was centralized on the UW Bothell campus) submits 75-100 research proposals annually.

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

University Partner Overview

Cornell is the federal land-grant institution of New York State, a privately endowed university, a member of the Ivy League, and a partner of the State University of New York. Cornell has 15 distinct schools and colleges and over 10,000 faculty and staff. Cornell is dedicated to its land-grant mission of outreach and public service and has “a special responsibility for research and public engagement.” Cornell is consistently in the top 5 research universities nationally to receive NSF funding for basic research in STEM fields. The Office of Sponsored Programs (Where the BID project was centralized on the Cornell campus) submits over 2,500 research proposals annually. The NSF supports nearly 40% of Cornell sponsored research.

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

University Partner Overview

The UW-Madison is the federal land-grant institution of Wisconsin. UW-Madison has over 24,000 faculty, academic staff, and University staff. The annual research budget is in excess of $1.2 billion. UW-Madison is consistently a top ten recipient of funding from the NSF.

UW-Madison has a long-standing commitment (over 115 years) to the “Wisconsin Idea” whereby the mission of the University includes the belief that the activities of UW-Madison should positively influence people’s lives beyond the lab and classroom. The WISCIENCE (Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement) is a unit housed in the Provost Office’s Collaborative for Learning and Teaching. It has evolved to meet specific academic needs of undergraduate and graduate students emphasizing Underrepresented Minorities in STEM. Academic activities include service-learning courses in STEM, the Science Alliance outreach network/community of practice, onboarding students into the campus research community, peer mentoring, and other specialized coursework.

Pacific Science Center, Seattle, WA

ISE Partner Overview:

Pacific Science Center, located under the arches near the Space Needle in Seattle, features five buildings of hands-on science exhibits, two IMAX® theaters, laser light shows, and a planetarium. Since its founding in 1962, Pacific Science Center (PSC) has remained dedicated to inspiring lifelong interest in science, technology, and math on its campus with traveling and permanent exhibits, field trips, summer camps, and exhibit interpretation, and also regionally with school visits, teacher professional development, and community programs and partnerships across the Pacific Northwest. Each year, Pacific Science Center reaches over a million people through both on-site and outreach programs.

Sciencecenter, Ithaca, NY

ISE Partner Overview:

The Sciencenter is a non-profit hands-on science museum in Ithaca, New York, founded in 1983. Today, the Sciencenter is a nationally recognized museum, hosting 100,000 guests in Ithaca each year and reaching over 1.5 million guests worldwide through our traveling exhibitions and outreach programs. The Sciencenter has created a variety of equity ‘Access Programs’ that reach and inspire rural and low socioeconomic families, and girls to engage in STEM exploration and learning.

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Madison, WI

ISE Partner Overview:

The Discovery Building is an award-winning research and educational building on the UW-Madison campus that is part public with the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) and part private with the non-profits Morgridge Institute for Research and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Over 40,000 square feet of the building is dedicated as the Town Center, which serves as a venue for public hands-on learning events and a general campus gathering space.

WARF broader impacts and education staff assist campus researchers with grant writing and programming to share their science with the hundreds of thousands of public at large, community-based organizations, and school groups that visit and engage in a myriad of public engagement with science programs at the Discovery Building annually.

Washington State BID team:

University of Washington Bothell and Pacific Science Center

The WA BID partnership was an existing partnership between a primarily undergraduate institution and a non-profit science museum at the onset of this project.

Washington

Special Partnership Characteristics and Considerations

University of Washington, Bothell, WA

University Partner Overview:

Pacific Science Center, Seattle, WA

ISE Partner Overview:

Pacific Science Center, located under the arches near the Space Needle in Seattle, features five buildings of hands-on science exhibits, two IMAX® theaters, laser light shows, and a planetarium. Since its founding in 1962, Pacific Science Center (PSC) has remained dedicated to an inspiring lifelong interest in science, technology, and math on its campus with traveling and permanent exhibits, field trips, summer camps, and exhibit interpretation, and also regionally with school visits, teacher professional development, and community programs and partnerships across the Pacific Northwest. Each year, Pacific Science Center reaches over a million people through both on-site and outreach programs.

New York State BID team:

Cornell University and Sciencenter

The NY BID partnership was a new (Emerging) partnership between an R1 research university and a small non-profit science museum at the onset of this project.

New York

Special Partnership Charactersitics and Considerations

Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

University Partner Overview:

Sciencecenter, Ithaca, NY

ISE Partner Overview:

Wisconsin State BID team:

University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery

The Wisconsin BID partnership was an existing partnership between an R1 research university, University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) public engagement with science program on the UW-Madison campus.

Wisconsin

University Partner Overview:

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

University Partner Overview:

The UW-Madison is the federal land-grant institution of Wisconsin. UW-Madison has all educational and professional schools (with the exception of a Dental school) on its nearly 1,000-acre urban campus in Madison WI. The largest schools/colleges are Letters & Science, Engineering, Education, Agricultural & Life Sciences, Medicine & Public Health, Pharmacy, Law, Graduate, Nursing, Human Ecology, Information School, Environmental Sciences, and over 24,000 faculty, academic staff, and University staff. The annual research budget is in excess of $1.2 billion. UW-Madison is consistently a top ten recipient of funding from the NSF.

Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, Madison, WI

ISE Partner Overview:

The Discovery Building is an award-winning research and educational building on the UW-Madison campus that is part public with the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) and part private with the non-profits Morgridge Institute for Research and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF). Over 40,000 square feet of the building is dedicated as the Town Center with a primary purpose for public engagement with science.

The public Wisconsin Institute for Discovery (WID) has around ten rotating research groups that emphasize interdisciplinarity research in the life sciences. WID research is a research center under the UW-Madison Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education,

The non-profit Morgridge Institute for Research is a biomedical research institute working toward a fundamental understanding of biology to drive the next advances in human health. The Morgridge Institute is home to ten labs that coalesce around six research themes with funding from the WARF.

The Town Center serves as a venue for public hands-on learning events and a general campus gathering space. The building has three dedicated teaching and learning labs that serve the outreach and educational mission of the partners. WARF broader impacts and education staff assist campus researchers with grant writing and programming to share their science with the hundreds of thousands of public at large, community-based organizations, and school groups that visit and engage in a myriad of public engagement with science programs at the Discovery Building annually.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.

Institute of Museum and Library Services

This project has been made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Portal to the Public is facilitated by the Institute for Learning Innovation.