News Article

iUTAH held its Spring All-Hands Meeting as part of a larger Broader Impacts forum and workshops on March 31 in Salt Lake City UT. The event was hosted in partnership with Office of the Vice President for Research at the University of Utah, and included over 100 attendees from 9 institutions across the state involved in conversation to expand broader impacts work in Utah.

The forum began with opening remarks from Cynthia Furse, associate vice president for research at University of Utah, and Michelle Baker, project director at iUTAH. The morning session continued with keynotes and panel discussions. Speaker Susan Renoe, National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) chair, summarized the event by saying that “Broader Impacts is a vital part of the NSF review process, and high-quality broader impacts plans can make the difference between receiving funding or not.” Other keynote speakers, panelists, and workshop facilitators who shared their expertise, include Chinweike Eseonu, Yusuf Jameel, Nalini M. Nadkarni, Michael D. Shapiro, Louisa A. Stark, Cynthia M. Furse, Nancy J. Huntly, Mark W. Brunson, and Andreas Leidolf.

“iUTAH’s educational programming is a model for others to follow,” said Renoe. “I was completely impressed by the depth and breadth of educational programming offered. iUTAH has programs that engage teachers, students, adult learners, public radio, and more.”

When asked about his impressions of the forum, keynote speaker, Chinweike Eseonu, assistant professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University said “the event was a very candid discussion of the personal and institutional challenges researchers face in identifying and communicating how our work potentially or actually benefits folks within and outside our institutions.”

“I was impressed by the depth and range of work through iUTAH and by how centers on campus translate abstract research concepts to tangible and accessible material for school children or non-subject matter expert adults,” said Eseonu. “I left feeling energized and look forward to applying lessons learned in my work.”

The iUTAH community will reconvene on July 13 – 14 in Logan for the iUTAH Summer Symposium, a celebration of five years of research, training, education, and outreach for Utah’s Water Future. For those of you that attended this forum, we ask you to fill out a short, 3-minute survey.