As efforts to fulfill "broader impacts" requirements increase, scientists are considering how to better communicate the societal impacts of their work. The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), an independent research program funded by BP following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, dedicated significant resources to outreach at the program level, through partnerships, and at the research consortium level. Through this latter effort, consortia outreach coordinators reached a wide variety of audiences through many approaches and activities. Insights gained from this collective effort may be useful to others looking to integrate or improve upon existing outreach in their research programs. The following recommendations, based on perspectives shared by GoMRI outreach coordinators, discuss the development and implementa-. article

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• Conclusive statements about how organisms and biological communities fared after the Deepwater Horizon accident are still difficult to make nearly a decade after the spill. Much of the work on organisms and their habitats will continue for years to come, and some of the impacts will only be apparent with long-term study. • Scientists have learned, and will continue to learn, important lessons by studying the impacts of the largest accidental oil spill in history on marine habitats and life in the Gulf of Mexico, such as impacts on large vertebrates (fish, cetaceans, birds), deep-sea organisms, phytoplankton and other marine microbes, coastal and pelagic fishes, and marsh plants and animals. Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) researchers are finding that sublethal impacts (those that do not immediately kill the animal, but affect its feeding habits, navigation, gene expression, and/or reproduction) are important, and understanding them provides critical insight about longerterm, population-level impacts of the spill on marine life. • One of the most valuable lessons from this accident has been that it is critically important to collect baseline data for ecosystems, in particular those which are most at risk of impact by industrial activities, and GoMRI researchers are helping to contribute to this body of knowledge. • Researchers developed innovative ways to investigate the impacts of oil on many different organisms and habitats. An associated activity provides students the opportunity to conduct their own virtual experiment on two species of fish, assessing changes in swim behavior and vision after oil exposure with "fish treadmills."

In response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, many innovative researchers adapted instruments not previously used in oil spill research, or invented new instruments that would change the way ocean science is done moving forward. • From using normal cameras in extraordinary ways to designing new platforms for data collection, scientists collaborated in order to develop new and improved scientific methods to investigate the environmental impacts of the spill on the Gulf's ecosystem. • The marine science technology developed through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) will be one of the lasting legacies of the program. These tools can be used in other bodies of water, for other spills, to improve the response, and mitigation of future disasters. • Developing or modifying existing technologies in order to answer specific research questions is common throughout the scientific process. In order to exemplify this process in the classroom, an associated activity will guide students through developing their very own drifters, just like GoMRI scientists did to understand currents in the Gulf of Mexico and where oil will go after an oil spill.

, AND MURT CONOVER • During the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, scientists and responders needed to predict where the oil would go. The complexity of the Gulf's physical properties, a number of surprising phenomena, and the mitigating response efforts all played significant roles in the distribution and fate of the oil in the Gulf. In addition, the DWH accident was unique in that the source of the leaking oil was from a wellhead 1,500 meters below the surface. Dispersant chemicals were applied at the surface and at the wellhead, which dispersed the oil into smaller droplets. • The spill exposed the lack of baseline data available for scientists working in the Gulf to predict the fate of oil in the marine environment and the physical processes that impact it. It is critical that sufficient baseline data continue to be collected in the many ecosystems that are at risk of being impacted by oil-related exploration and extraction activities. • When scientists and responders were faced with the DWH oil spill, they needed to understand oil movement to determine how to remove it and minimize impacts. An associated activity engages students as environmental engineers to develop a procedure that would remove the most oil from the ocean in the event of a large-scale oil spill.