Education and Outreach

Many groups and organizations at Virginia Tech are actively engaged in education and outreach programs within the university and in K-12 school systems and communities. These organizations can suggest existing programs that fit the requirements and topic of your prosal, or help you craft new ones that can effectively achieve specific goals in a realistic, measurable way. 

Creative, high-imact programs exist all over the university (check with your associate dean for other suggestions!), but these organizations are a good place to start: 

• The Fralin Life Sciences Institute has runs a robust collection of well-developed programs incluing the popular Biotech in a Box and Kids' Tech University, which reach thousands of students every year.  
• The Center for Educational Networks and Impacts helps researchers engage effectively with communities and education systems, and is building a community of practice around community-engaged research. Their programs include the Virginia Tech Science Festival and Hokie for a Day, among others; they can also assist you with developing a realistic budget for your Broader Impacts activities. 
• The Center for Communicating Science works with scientists, engineers, scholars, and medical professionals to learn to make scientific concepts intelligible and engaging to the audiences who are impacted by them.
• The Center for Economic and Community Engagement matches university expertise with real economic development needs in regional communities, conducting applied research and building sustainable partnerships that create a feedback loop between innovation and prosperity.