Penn’s Jane Horwitz of Science Outreach Initiative searches for “Broader Impacts”

The National Science Foundation (NSF) receives around 50,000 grant applications each year, disbursing more than $7 billion in research funds. Only one in five projects receive awards, but the winners are not judged solely on the scientific merits of their proposed research…The Science Outreach Initiative, organized under the School of Arts & Sciences, helps even the most fundamental, early-stage research connect with the world at large, through education, engagement, and community service.

“This is exactly what we need to be doing, to reduce redundancy, increase knowledge transfer, and improve impact,” says Horwitz. The Network for Broader Impacts (N4BI) is the result of a $500,000 NSF grant to fund a five-year, multi-institutional initiative designed to encourage education and outreach efforts that communicate the value of taxpayers’ investment in federal scientific research. 

Jane Horwitz, director of the Science Outreach Initiative, is one of its founding members and a co-principal investigator.

To read more on this story, visit :http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2014-11-20/latest-news/broader-impacts-science-national-scale