Bernice Taylor Anderson

Broader Impacts Champion

Bernice Taylor Anderson began her tenure at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in September 1997 as an Evaluation Program Director within the former Division of Research, Evaluation, and Communication. She concluded her distinguished career as Senior Advisor in the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) in the Office of the Director in September 2025. Beginning in 2012, Dr. Anderson contributed significantly to OIA, serving as Executive Secretary for the Congressionally mandated Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE), Contracting Officer’s Representative overseeing the federally funded research and development contract with the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI), and agency representative to the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities Interagency Working Group.

Dr. Anderson co-led the 2014 NSF Broadening Participation Working Group and collaborated with colleagues across the Education and Engineering Directorates to develop and implement one of NSF’s 10 Big Ideas—NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discovers in Engineering and Science). She also played a key role in NSF’s response to CEOSE’s recommendations for a bold national initiative to broaden participation in STEM fields and make visible the invisible. From 2012 to 2025, Dr. Anderson coordinated the production of CEOSE’s seven biennial reports to Congress and two special reports: one addressing the future of NSF EPSCoR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), and another focusing on STEM talent in rural communities.

Her previous leadership roles at NSF included: Acting Division Director of the former Division of Educational System Reform, Acting Division Director of the former Division of Human Resource Development, Senior Advisor for Communications, Knowledge Management and Analysis, and Senior Advisor for Education and Information Management. Dr. Anderson holds degrees from Norfolk State University (B.S., 1974), Ohio State University (M.A., 1976), and Rutgers University (Ed.D., 1984).