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Arlington, Virginia
May 12-13, 2016
Electrical, Communications and
Cyber Systems (ECCS)
NSF Workshop
Defining Broader Impact Activities for ECCS/NSF Grants
Workshop Goals
NSF investments are expected to “advance the frontiers of knowledge, contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of the nation, and advance the preeminent and leadership position of the United States in science, technology, engineering and mathematics”. The Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS) Division of the NSF recognizes the importance of promoting Broader Impact innovations in supporting the NSF mission. The Electrical Engineering fields are well positioned to making impactful research to the society and the nation, yet such impacts need to be properly measured, stimulated and promoted in order to maximize the societal value of the manpower and resources spent on implementing ECCS funded projects.
The workshop aims to promote consistent practice in applying the Broader Impacts criterion in NSF proposal evaluation, engage ECCS researchers in Broader Impact innovations, and promote the best practice in Broader Impact contributions within the ECCS community. This workshop provides a venue to discuss how Broader Impact innovations of ECCS research can be facilitated and incentivized at various levels, including individual researchers, institutions, government agencies and broader communities.
The workshop goals are:
I. To better understand the economical and societal value of ECCS projects
II. To develop meaningful metrics to assess and promote Broader Impact activities
III. To encourage new approaches and institutional initiatives on Broader Impacts
Agenda
Thursday, May 12
7:30 am Registration & Continental Breakfast
8:30 am Broader Impacts: Achieving Greater Goals Pramod Khargonekar, Assistant Director For Engineering
Introduction and Overview of Workshop Goals
Samir El-Ghazaly, Division Director, ECCS Division, NSF Zhi Tian, Workshop Chair, Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, George Mason University
9:20 am
9:40 am
10:05 am
10:25 am
10:50 am
Nanoelectronics from the Lab to the Marketplace, Classroom and Society: the Texas Story
Sanjay Banerjee, Director, Microelectronics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Adding Rigor to the Broader Impact Review in ECCS Thomas Weller, Chair, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of South Florida
Creating Broader Impacts using Social and Mass Media Pradeep Fulay, Associate Dean for Research, Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources, West Virginia University
Creating a Culture that Celebrates Broader Impact Initiatives with Longevity
Christine Grant, Associate Dean of Faculty Advancement, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University
Enhancing the Values of Impacts Beyond Research in NSF Program
Nelson Tansu, Director, Center for Photonics and Nanoelectronics, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Lehigh University
11:15 am Break
11:25 am
11:50 am
12:10 am
12:30 am
GOALI: Undergraduate Broader Impacts André Knoesen, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Davis
A Personal Perspective on Broader Impacts in Science and Engineering
Jingyu Lin, Linda F. Whitacre Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas Tech University
Beyond the classroom: from ubiquitous learning to residential communities of entrepreneurs for a new generation of innovators
Gianluca Lazzi, Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah
Creating Broader Impacts to Promote the Future of Electrical and Computer Engineering
John Papapolymerou, Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University
12:45pm Lunch Provided at Workshop
2:00 pm 2:20 pm
Broader Impact: An EPIC Event Sheldon H. Jacobson, Director, Simulation and Optimization Laboratory, University of Illinois - UIUC
Broader Impacts: Integrating Research and Teaching in a Wide Variety of Communities & Settings
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Department of Mathematics, University of Kansas
2:40 pm Guidance for Break-Out Sessions - Z. Tian, Workshop Chair 2:45 pm Break-Out Session I - Understanding the economic and
social value of the ECCS projects Facilitator: Rhonda Franklin, University of Minnesota Scribe: John Dallesasse, University of Illinois - UIUC
Break-Out Session II – Meaningful metrics to assess and promote Broader Impacts activities
Facilitator: Tom Wellner, University of South Florida Scribe: Douglas Irving, North Carolina State University
Break-Out Session III – New approaches and institutional initiatives on Broader Impacts Facilitator: Rashid Zia, Brown University Scribe: Ian White, University of Maryland
4:00 pm Break
Session I. Understanding the economic and social value of the ECCS projects
General areas of broader impacts include broadening participation of underrepresented groups, enhancing infrastructure for research and education, broadening dissemination to enhance scientific and technological understanding, and advancing discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training and learning. Several key questions are:
- What does the Broader Impacts criterion entail? - What are the Broader Impacts of ECCS research and education?
o Is there an impact on engineering and industry? o What is the benefit to society and contribution to the
achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes? - What is the societal value of ECCS research in supporting the
NSF mission? o Increased economic competitiveness of the United States o Development of a globally competitive STEM workforce o Increased participation of women and underrepresented
minorities in STEM o Increased partnerships between academia and industry o Improved pre-K–12 STEM education and teacher
development o Improved undergraduate STEM education o Increased public scientific literacy o Increased national security
- What are the under-valued or misunderstood aspects of Broader Impacts?
- How do we improve Broader Impacts awareness and understanding among PIs?
- How do we raise the public awareness of the Broader Impacts of ECCS research?
- What are the effective ways to communicate to the public the benefits and long-term impacts of ECCE research and education?
Agenda
Friday, May 13
8:00 am Continental Breakfast
8:45 am Report from Scribes –
Session I - John Dallesasse
Session II - Douglas Irving
Session III - Ian White
10:00 am Preparing Draft of Workshop Report
10:15 am Break
10:30 am Preparing Draft of Workshop Report - Continue
11:45 am Open Discussion – What do we recommend?
12:00 pm Lunch Provided at Workshop
1:00 pm Workshop Ends
Thursday, May 12 (Continue)
4:15 pm Break-Out Sessions - Continue
5:30 pm Open Discussion – What are we learning?
Facilitator: Zhi Tian, Workshop Chair
6:00 pm Adjourn
7:00 pm Group Dinner
Broader Impact activities should go beyond normal teaching duties and faculty commitments. It is most effective when a strategic plan on diversity and broader impacts is initiated and developed at the departmental and institutional levels. Collaborations with non-academic units, such as local industry and national labs, offer opportunities to enhance the infrastructure of research and education. Some key issues are:
- What are the new ideas of connecting research to education in order to engage, excite, recruit and retain students at all levels?
- How do we build national and international research and education networks to enhance the infrastructure and impacts of research and education?
- How do we forge links to other scientific disciplines?
- What are the most instrumental institutional supports?
- What can be done at the NSF, ECCS Division in particular, to cultivate institutional initiatives that lead to greater returns in Broader Impacts?
- How to integrate Broader Impacts with Intellectual Merits? What is the appropriate balance between these two elements?
- What is the roadmap for Broader Impact innovations in ECCS fields?
- How can we ensure consistent interpretation and handling of Broader Impact criterion by reviewers as well as NSF staff in order to promote Broader Impact innovations?
Session II. Meaningful metrics to assess and promote Broader Impact activities
Session III. New approaches and institutional initiatives on Broader Impacts
The balance and integration of both Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts need to be reflected in the Merit Review process. Key topics that need to be addressed are:
- How can Broader Impacts be classified?
- What metrics are appropriate for measuring the Broader Impacts of ECCS research in conjunction with the evaluation of Intellectual Merit?
- Are the activities proposed under Broader Impact complementary to the research project as they are supposed to be?
- In the current Merit Review practice for NSF proposals, are there factors that lead to the separation of Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts? If so, how to amend this situation?
- What is the acceptable timeline for Broader Impacts?
- How do we assess the Broader Impact contributions during and after the funding period of a grant? How to ensure accountability?
- What is the appropriate level of resources to be provided to make Broader Impact contributions?
- Are the proposed efforts coordinated appropriately in ways that leverage particular institutional assets or strategic directions and even link investigators from multiple projects?
- What incentives can be developed in the Merit Review criteria to stimulate the Broader Impacts innovations?
Participants
Abed, Eyad National Science Foundation
Baheti, Radhakishan National Science Foundation
Banerjee, Sanjay University of Texas at Austin
Bank, Seth University of Texas at Austin
Brown, April Duke University
Cheng, Susan George Washington University
Culbertson, Joanne National Science Foundation
Dagenais, Dominique National Science Foundation
Dallesasse, John University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
El-Ghazaly, Samir National Science Foundation
El-Masry, Nadia National Science Foundation
Fallahi, Mahmoud National Science Foundation
Fay, Patrick University of Notre Dame
Foster, Amy Johns Hopkins University
Franklin, Rhonda University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Fulay, Pradeep West Virginia University
Goodings, Deborah National Science Foundation
Grant, Christine North Carolina State University
Goldberg, Larry National Science Foundation
Gonzalez, Cecile National Science Foundation
Haddad, George University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Harvey, James Army Research Laboratory
Henderson, Rashaunda University of Texas at Dallas
Irving, Douglas North Carolina State University
Jacobson, Sheldon University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Kar, Swastik Northeastern University
Khargonekar, Pramod National Science Foundation
Kim, Seongsin University of Alabama
Knoesen, Andre University of California - Davis
Lazzi, Gianluca University of Utah
Lee, Charles Air Force Office of Scientific Research
Lin, Jingyu Texas Tech University
Ling, Hao National Science Foundation
Manitius, Andre George Mason University
Palmer, William DARPA
Papapolymerou, John Michigan State University
Pasik-Duncan, Bozenna University of Kansas
Pavlidis, Dimitris National Science Foundation
Sorger, Volker George Washington University
Tansu, Nelson Lehigh University
Tian, Zhi (Gerry) George Mason University
Varshney, Usha National Science Foundation
Wasserman, Dan University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Weller, Tom University of South Florida
White, Ian University of Maryland
Zavada, John National Science Foundation
Zhirnov, Victor Semiconductor Research Corporation
Zia, Rashid Brown University
Participants
Organizers
Workshop Chair:
Zhi Tian Professor George Mason University [email protected]
Organizing Committee:
George Haddad
Professor Emeritus University of Michigan - Ann Arbor [email protected]
Advisory Committee:
John Zavada, ECCS Division, NSF
Dimitris Pavlidis, ECCS Division, NSF
Nadia El-Masry, ECCS Division, NSF
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