Broader Impacts

General Outreach

The following is a list of general outreach initiatives and units established at colleges and schools at LSU A&M. Please refer directly to the relevant college or unit website for more information. 

• College of Agriculture Outreach (Department of Agricultural and Extension Education and Evaluation)
  • also see LSU AgCenter
• College of Art & Design Outreach
• College of the Coast & Environment Outreach
• College of Engineering Outreach
  
  • Summer Programs
  • Chevron Center for Engineering Education
    • ENGage LSU
    • Society of Peer Mentors
• College of Human Sciences & Education Outreach
• College of Humanities & Social Sciences Outreach
  • Ethics Institute
• College of Music & Dramatic Arts Outreach
• College of Science Outreach
  • Geaux Science Explorations
  • Chemistry Outreach (ChemDemo Program)
  • Chemistry Outreach (Super Science Saturday)
  • Physics & Astronomy Outreach
• E. J. Ourso College of Business Outreach
• Manship School of Mass Communication Outreach
• School of Veterinary Medicine Outreach

The following outreach groups are already established at LSU. Often, individual units offer multiple avenues for outreach.

• Gordon A. Cain Center
• Landolt Astronomical Observatory
• LSU Rural Life Museum
• LSU Discover Undergraduate Research Program
• Museum of Art
• Museum of Natural History, the official state museum of natural history with collections from six independently administered units on campus, including the Vascular Plant Herbarium, the Mycological Herbarium, the Lichen Herbarium (learn more about the LSU Herbaria collections), the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum, the Palynology Collection, the Mineralogy and Petrology Collections, the Textile and Costume Museum, the Louisiana Geological Survey Log Library & Core Repository (LGS Outreach).
  • Museum of Natural Science, a subunit of the Museum of Natural History and a national leader in the size and diversity of its research collection.
• Federal Trio Programs
  • LSU Student Support Services 
  • Ronald E. McNair Research Scholars Program
  • Upward Bound 
• • Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD)
  • Center for Collaborative Knowledge
  • Center for Computation and Technology
  • Center for Energy Studies
  • Coastal Ecosystem Design Studio
  • Coastal Sustainability StudioORED-related Resources
  • Louisiana Sea Grant
  • Louisiana Space Consortium
  • National Center for Advanced Manufacturing
  • Shared Instrument Facility (SIF)
  • Other centers, institutes, and research programs related to LSU.

The following organizations are part of the statewide LSU system and may have outreach opportunities that faculty can leverage.

• LSU AgCenter, with extension and outreach services across the state.
• LSU Alexandria
• LSU Eunice
• LSU Shreveport Outreach
• LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans Outreach
• LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport Office of Research
• LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center
• Pennington Biomedical Research Center

Community, Industry, and Foundation Outreach

The following are units on campus dedicated to community outreach.

• Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership (CCELL)
• Community University Partnerships

If you are interested in developing an industry partnership for a component of your BI, please contact ORED's Director of Economic Development, Greg Trahan.

If you are interested in pursuing a private-sector foundation partnership for a component of your BI, please contact the LSU Foundation.

LSU's Division of Engagement, Civil Rights & Title IX is committed to continuously improve the experiences and outcome for underserved and marginalized students, faculty, and staff. ODI's priorities include student success, faculty recruitment and retention and education and scholarship focused on inclusive teaching, research and professional development.

LSU's Office of Strategic Initiatives of the Graduate School is committed to engaging in partnerships with a number of East Baton Rouge Parish schools as well as various community and non-profit organizations. Our services include activities such as tutoring, science fair mentoring and judging, engaging science demonstrations, and ACT Preparation. If you are interested in partnering with OSI through outreach activities, contact Dr. Ashleigh Wright at [email protected].

If you are interested in developing outreach for students with disabilities at LSU, please email Disability Services to discuss your ideas.

If you are interested in developing outreach for students who are veterans, please contact the William A. Brookshire Military & Veterans Student Center by emailing [email protected].

LSU Social Research & Evaluation Center (SREC), which works in connecting communities to strengthen assets and providing evaluation to improve understanding of social, economic, and behavioral needs and opportunities.

A number of organizations offer free resources related to BI. In terms of its own BI requirement, NSF has developed several areas on its website (through its Office of Integrative Activities) exploring various possible avenues for how to extend the impact of research. In addition to providing information on and examples of building STEM talent, innovating for the future, improving society, reaching beyond borders, and engaging a wider audience, this page links to the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), an NSF-funded center at the University of Missouri that "works with scientists and engagement practitioners to build capacity, advance scholarship, grow partnerships and provide resources to help them engage with and demonstrate the impact of research in their communities and society," emphasizing support for historically underserved populations and engagement to ensure a diverse workforce and sharing BI practices and resources.

The ARIS site features an array of resources, including BI webinars, publications, presentation documents, and development tools, including a BI Wizard, which provides support for investigators developing BI statements in a simple five-step process. 

In March 2021, NSF announced an open-call Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 21-059) entitled "A Broader Impacts Framework for Proposals Submitted to NSF's Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Sciences Directorate." The DCL offers:

"a framework that SBE researchers can use to develop and communicate their projects' broader impacts more effectively...[which] in no way alters NSF's existing criteria ‒ rather, it offers guidance on how to consider and convey broader impacts in ways that are easier for others to understand."

One commonly asked question about broader impacts is how to think about them, given that fundamental research often entails substantial uncertainty ‒ and can take many years to produce transformative results. Indeed, for many types of fundamental research the probability of achieving any specific outcome is often difficult or impossible to know in advance. As a result, for most types of fundamental research, descriptions of broader impacts should focus on a reasonable and honest assessment of possible and likely outcomes rather than on the probability of specific outcomes.

The "Broader Impacts (BI) Framework" offers a way for researchers to hone and articulate this focus. In other words, it offers a framework for connecting fundamental research outcomes to quality of life improvements for others. To use the BI Framework, a researcher begins with the basic elements of Broader Impacts and then considers three questions about these elements potential to offer credible improvements.

1. Who Can the Scientific Opportunities and Communicative Products Empower?
2. Whose Quality of Life Can the Empowerment Improve?
3. What Actions Make These Broader Impacts More Likely?)

The DCL announcement offers guidance on basic elements of broader impacts in the SBE sciences and further details the questions.