The NSF has long required that the broader impacts of any project be expressed. According to the NSF, a project which is to have broader impacts should:

• Advance science while promoting teaching, training and learning
• Broaden participation of underrepresented groups
• Enhance infrastructure for research and education
• Provide broad dissemination to enhance scientific and technological understanding
• Highlight the benefit of the project to society

These criteria provide a top level view of the areas that might be included in discussing the broader impacts of a particular project. Specifically, the US Congress suggests the following activities as signs of broader impacts:

• Increasing the economic competitiveness of the United States
• Developing a globally competitive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workforce
• Encouraging and increasing participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields
• Developing partnerships between academia and industry
• Improving pre-K-12 STEM education and teacher development
• Improving undergraduate STEM education
• Increasing public scientific literacy
• Strengthening national security

The Harvey Mudd College mission statement emphasizes the aim of the college to fuel broader impacts:
Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians, well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.

As a department, Computer Science has always found ways to involve our students and faculty in projects that fulfill all aspects of this mission statement. Click to find out more about recent activities and possible activities that would further the broader impacts of our actions.