Spelman College biology professor Dr. Aditi Pai is part of a team that was recently awarded a $9 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to expand its focus on the scholarship of broader impacts while diversifying the research ecosystem. The grant was awarded to the Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), an NSF center based at the University of Missouri.
Spelman College has been a strategic partner in several projects of ARIS that aim to diversify the scientific research community. Dr. Pai currently serves on the ARIS Council of Experts, a diverse group of professionals from universities across the nation that advise and lead the organization.
“As a member of the principal investigators team for this project, I am pleased with the impact of ARIS on the national research ecosystem,” said Dr. Pai. “I am particularly excited to be a part of the work that develops strategies for advancing research and research impacts at minority serving institutions and smaller emerging research institutions.”
In 2023, Spelman and Atlanta University Center faculty members collaborated with ARIS to develop a mechanism to build capacity for research at smaller institutions. Dr. Pai and Spelman faculty members Dr. Kimberly Williams, assistant professor of environmental & health sciences, Dr. Leyte Winfield, director of the cosmetic science program, and Dr. Tasha Inniss, vice provost for research, are coauthors in the report summarizing the collaborative meeting, titled Strategies for Building Capacity at Minority Serving Institutions for Advancing Research and Research Impacts. Other Spelman and AUC faculty are featured in the report for their exemplary work.
While researchers around the world are working to bring their scientific discoveries to the people who fund it and benefit from it, ARIS is working to support those researchers and their institutions with tools to build the infrastructure, training and certification needed to boost the field of broader impacts (BI).
The NSF defines broader impacts as the societal benefits of research, but Susan Renoe, ARIS executive director and Mizzou associate vice chancellor for research development and strategic partnerships and assistant professor of strategic communication in the Missouri School of Journalism, describes broader impacts as “where research meets people — the impact that research has, beyond academics, where it filters into communities and changes lives.”
Over the past decade, ARIS has grown into a national epicenter for broader impacts, outreach and community engagement. Through participating in national conversation and policy about broader impacts, ARIS elevates research by providing resources and professional development opportunities for scientists spanning disciplines of science, technology, arts and the humanities.