Broader Impacts
The Center for Civic Innovation operates evidence-based summer internship and youth programs that broaden the impact of research in society. The CCI team is available to discuss Broader Impacts for National Science Foundation and other grants with faculty from the College of Engineering during proposal development. To ask questions or set up a consultation, contact CCI's director Jay Brockman, at jbb@nd.edu.
- Consult with faculty to determine opportunities to connect with existing CCI programming for Broader Impacts.
- Discuss PI ideas for new Broader Impacts projects.
- Write content for Broader Impacts sections of grant proposals that align with CCI's internship and youth programming.
- Develop a budget for Broader Impacts activities.
- Communicate and promote funded Broader Impacts activities.
Examples of CCI Broader Impacts opportunities include:
CCI Internship Project Technical Mentor
The PI meets with CCI to discuss projects that align with both their research interests and CCI’s community partner needs to identify an appropriate project. For example, a PI could contribute technical knowledge to a team of interns working on a project related to data visualization. The PI commits to a project-scoping meeting and mentor onboarding with CCI in the spring. They then meet with their Intern team 1 hour per week for 8 weeks in the summer to provide them with technical guidance. The PI then attends final presentations and has a 1 hour debrief session with CCI after the program. Depending on the scale of the grant, PIs may also sponsor an intern or fund and lead an intern team that contributes directly to the research effort. For example, a team might conduct GIS mapping of a neighborhood, design and deliver a STEM camp for K-12 students, or collect and analyze survey data from research participants. Examples of prior projects are listed by research area.
Industry and Community-Based Innovation Projects Course Project Instructor (EG35101)
PIs work with CCI to identify a community partner and develop a project suitable for a team of students to complete for 1-3 credit hours during an academic semester. CCI provides a common syllabus, assignments, and student onboarding and the PI is responsible for grading assignments and assigning the final grades. For example, CCI connects students from the Energy minor with the City of South Bend where students learn about energy use, meet with City officials to learn about audits, research approaches to measure energy use, and apply their learning to conduct an energy audit in a publicly owned property.
Career Awareness Presentations
The PI will share their education and career path story with students ranging from K-12 to College with a focus on raising awareness of possible STEM careers. This opportunity includes the CCI Youth Programs that engage up to 20 underrepresented K-12 students from South Bend Schools each semester and the CCI Summer Internship Program that hosts a group of approximately 32 college and high school students from diverse backgrounds each summer.
CCI Youth Program Hands-on STEM Activity Presenter
The PI will work with CCI to design and deliver an age-appropriate 1 hour hands-on STEM activity to up to 20 K8 students underrepresented in STEM from South Bend Community School Corporation in the after school programs. For example, faculty could present a brief overview of wind turbines and lead the students in an activity to desing and build their own models using common items. The Youth Program engages new students each semester with the potential for 40 K-8 students per academic year.
CCI Youth Program Design-Thinking Makerspace Programming
The PI will inform the CCI Youth Program team on engineering integration into weekly design-thinking curriculum for up to 15 underrepresented 5th-8th graders for 15 weeks each semester. The PI will help deliver the programming at least 1 time each semester and will provide the supplies for activities. The proposal will fund an instructor 10 hours per week for 32 weeks during the academic year.