Graphic credit: ARIS
Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences (DMCS) Chair Oscar Schofield and Professor Kay Bidle were honored for their work elevating research impact at the 2026 Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS)’s Summit, “Impact by Design”, which took place March 30 – April 1.
Schofield was awarded the Enduring Achievement Award, which honors those with a long and storied history of work that has demonstrated measurable and lasting societal impact.
The citation emphasized his purposeful weaving of research and outreach across his career and within DMCS. His work includes leading marine and coastal training for educators, collaborating with the U.S. Coast Guard on rescue modeling and partnering with the Rutgers SEBS Science in Action group to create two documentary films focused on science literacy.
With this award, he joins past awardees such as Nalini M. Nadkarni (University of Utah), Portal to the Public and The Center for Science and the Schools (Penn State University).
Bidle was awarded the Impact Innovations Award, which recognizes leaders in developing new strategies for societal impact. He was awarded for his work on the Tools of Science educational video series, a project focused on communicating the scientific process and science practices.
The project seeks to highlight the collaborative nature of research and its impacts in society, with videos focused on tangible scientific methods—like “Modeling” and “Sampling” and more intangible concepts—like “Collaboration” and “Creativity”. The video series is designed to be used by students and educators, and it adheres to the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards.
Graphic credit: ARIS
Bidle worked on the Tools of Science project with other collaborators, including Rutgers colleagues Janice McDonnell (SEBS Associate Dean of Research Impact) and Kim Thamatrakoln (Associate Professor, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences). With this award, he joins past awardees such as the Zooniverse project, MinuteEarth, and the Teen Science Cafe Network.
The 2026 ARIS Summit’s theme was centered around how researchers and research impact professionals can elevate the results of research impact–focusing on what changed as a result of the research, who it changed for, and why the change mattered.
In his acceptance, Schofield noted the importance of communicating science and its impacts. He credits collaborating with impact professionals with “allow[ing] me to elevate efforts to increase wider understanding of why the ocean is critical to all of humanity and that doing/learning about science is fun, creative, and important….Communities such as ARIS are so important, I thank the broad community of ocean communicators and science translators.”
About ARIS
The Center for Advancing Research Impact in Society (ARIS), formerly the National Alliance for Broader Impacts, was founded in 2014 and is the largest societal impact community organization in the U.S. ARIS supports practitioners, researchers and communities in achieving positive societal impact. With more than 1,800 members worldwide, ARIS offers resources, certifications, and programs to build capacity, grow partnerships, and enhance scholarship. Visit researchinsociety.org.
Editor’s note: This article was written by Mitaali Taskar, a science communicator and research project assistant with Rutgers Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences.
