This project supports the Broader Impacts and Outreach Network for Institutional Collaboration (BIONIC), a national Research Coordination Network of Broader Impacts to support professionals who assist researchers to design, implement, and evaluate the Broader Impacts activities for NSF proposals and awards. All NSF proposals are evaluated not only on the Intellectual Merit of the proposed research, but also on the Broader Impacts of the proposed work, such as societal relevance, educational outreach, and community engagement. Many institutions have begun employing Broader Impacts support professionals, but in most cases, these individuals have not worked as a group to identify and share best practices. As a consequence, there has been much duplication of effort. Through coordination, BIONIC is expected to improve efficiency, reduce redundancy, and have significant impact in several areas: 1) Researchers will benefit from an increased understanding of the Broader Impacts merit review criterion and increased access to collaborators who can help them design, implement, and evaluate their Broader Impacts activities; 2) Institutions and research centers will increase their capacity to support Broader Impacts via mentoring for Broader Impacts professionals and consulting on how to build Broader Impacts support infrastructure, with attention to inclusion of non-research-intensive universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Hispanic- and Minority-Serving Institutions that may not have the resources to support an institutional Broader Impacts office; and 3) NSF, itself, will benefit from a systematic and consistent approach to Broader Impacts that will lead to better fulfillment of the Broader Impacts criterion by researchers, better evaluation of Broader Impacts activities by reviewers and program officers, and a system for evaluating the effectiveness of Broader Impacts activities in the aggregate, as mandated by Congress and the National Science Board. Through its many planned activities, BIONIC will ultimately help advance the societal aims that the Broader Impacts merit review criterion was meant to achieve.
The main goals of the project will be accomplished through the four specific objectives: 1) Identify and curate promising models, practices, and evaluation methods for the Broader Impacts community; 2) Expand engagement in, and support the development of, high-quality Broader Impacts activities by educating current and future faculty and researchers on effective practices; 3) Develop the human resources necessary for sustained growth and increased diversity of the Broader Impacts community; and 4) Promote cross-institutional collaboration and dissemination for Broader Impacts programs, practices, models, materials, and resources. BIONIC will facilitate collaborative Broader Impacts work across institutions, help leverage previously developed resources, support professional development, and train new colleagues to enter into the Broader Impacts field. This project will improve the quality and sustainability of Broader Impacts investments, as researchers continue to create unique and effective activities that are curated and broadly disseminated. BIONIC will create a network designed to assist NSF-funded researchers at their institutions in achieving the goals of the Broader Impacts Review Criterion. In so doing, BIONIC will promote Broader Impacts activities locally, nationally, and internationally and help to advance the Broader Impacts field.
This award is co-funded by the Divisions of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and Emerging Frontiers in the Directorate for Biological Sciences and by the Division of Chemistry in the Directorate for Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
In June of 2017, the Exploratorium hosted the GENIAL Summit which brought together approximately 91 practitioners, community leaders, diversity-focused organization staff, researchers, and media/marketing specialists from across the country and Puerto Rico for a one and a half day gathering. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Summit focused on increasing Latino participation in Informal STEM Learning (ISL) environments by examining these five content strands identified by the GENIAL team:
1. Latino Audiences
2. Marketing, Communicating, and Media
3. Community Collaboration and
In our efforts to sustain U.S. productivity and economic strength, underrepresented minorities (URM) (for the purpose of this paper defined as persons of African American, Hispanic American, and Native American racial/ethnic descent), provide an untapped reservoir of talent that could be used to fill technical jobs. Over the past 25 years, educational diversity programs have encouraged and supported URM pursuing STEM degrees. Yet, their representation in STEM still lags far behind that of White, non-Hispanic men.
To understand the reasons why this is occurring, the American Association for
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Yolanda S. GeorgeVirginia Van HorneShirley M. Malcom
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
With support from NSF/AISL, the Exploratorium held the Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos (GENIAL) Summit on June 5-6, 2017, in San Francisco, California.
The goals of the GENIAL Summit were to:
- Identify needs and opportunities for Latinos in informal science learning (ISL) environments.
- Facilitate and strengthen professional relationships.
- Identify recommendations and actionable insights with an outlook toward the future.
- Contribute to a more informed ISL field.
A total of 91 participants, a mix of practitioners, community leaders, media specialists
With support from NSF/AISL, the Exploratorium held the Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos (GENIAL) Summit on June 5-6, 2017, in San Francisco, California.
The goals of the GENIAL Summit were to:
- Identify needs and opportunities for Latinos in informal science learning (ISL) environments.
- Facilitate and strengthen professional relationships.
- Identify recommendations and actionable insights with an outlook toward the future.
- Contribute to a more informed ISL field.
A total of 91 participants, a mix of practitioners, community leaders, media specialists
This list of terms and definitions was produced by the GENIAL (Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos) project, which convened Ia Summit on June 5-6, 2017, in San Francisco, California.
The goals of the GENIAL Summit were to:
- Identify needs and opportunities for Latinos in informal science learning (ISL) environments.
- Facilitate and strengthen professional relationships.
- Identify recommendations and actionable insights with an outlook toward the future.
- Contribute to a more informed ISL field.
A total of 91 participants, a mix of practitioners, community
Community collaboration and empowerment was identified by the GENIAL organizers as an important theme to include in the Summit. Informal STEM learning (ISL) organizations strive to engage Latino audiences in their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming on a long-term basis and recognize the importance of understanding the needs, motivations, interests, and challenges of the diverse Latino community in the context of STEM participation. An effective way to collaborate with a community is to involve them as equal partners in the co-development of ISL experiences. A key
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Salvador AcevedoPaul DusenberyExploratorium
During the GENIAL Summit, the Marketing, Communication, and Media strand examined the role of marketing and communications in connecting Latino audiences with STEAM in informal science learning (ISL) environments. ISL organizations do not generally think to include a marketing perspective early on in the process of developing audience experiences. When ISL practitioners seek to connect with key audiences, specifically, Latino audiences, marketing efforts are often considered when an exhibit or program is fully developed, in production, or already launched. This causes an immediate and inherent
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Julie NunnLorraine Yglesias
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
It is essential to understand the complexity and diversity of Latino audiences for authentic engagement in any field, including informal science learning. We offer four key ideas that can serve as foundations for considering Latino audiences: identity and culture, amplification, decolonization, and risk-taking. The content of these ideas speaks to the need to shift from simplistic viewpoints to more holistic perspectives which acknowledge culture as dynamic and fluid, view audiences in more complex ways that reflect on the intersections of identities and experiences, and engage in practices
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cecilia GaribayPatricia LannesJosé GonzálezExploratorium
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This report summarizes the Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos (GENIAL) Summit, which was held on June 5–6, 2017, at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California. With generous support from the National Science Foundation, 91 participants, a mix of practitioners, community leaders, media specialists, government officials, policy professionals, and researchers from across the United States and Puerto Rico attended the Summit.
With generous support from the National Science Foundation, the Exploratorium held the Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos (GENIAL) Summit on June 5–6, 2017, in San Francisco, California. The goals of the GENIAL Summit were to:
- Identify needs and opportunities for Latinos in informal science learning (ISL) environments.
- Facilitate and strengthen professional relationships.
- Identify recommendations, emerging research questions, and actionable insights with an outlook toward the future.
- Contribute to a more informed ISL field.
A total of 91 participants, a
With generous support from the National Science Foundation, the Exploratorium held the Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos (GENIAL) Summit on June 5–6, 2017, in San Francisco, California. The goals of the GENIAL Summit were to:
-Identify needs and opportunities for Latinos in Informal Science Learning (ISL) environments.
- Facilitate and strengthen professional relationships.
-Identify recommendations, emerging research questions, and actionable insights with an outlook toward the future.
-Contribute to a more informed ISL field.
A total of 91 participants, a mix