§1862o–9 Broader Impacts Merit Review Criterion

Summary

Require the Foundation to count partnerships between university researchers and industry scientists working on important future fields, like nanotechnology, as valid ways to meet the grants’ "broader impacts" requirement when reviewing research proposals. The Director must send Congress a report not later than 1 year after August 9, 2007. The report must say what each division uses to judge broader impacts, give a division-by-division list of activities awardees proposed, include any evaluations of how well those activities were done and how effective they were, describe which national goals the requirement can best support (for example, better K–12 and undergraduate STEM education, more university-industry collaboration, and broader participation), and explain what the Foundation is doing and should do to improve undergraduate STEM education using this requirement.