Sponsored Research at U.S. EPA’s National Center for Environmental Research

1. Christopher Zarba Deputy Director EPA – National Center for Environmental Research March 13, 2008 Sponsored Research at U.S. EPA’sNational Center for Environmental Research

2. Presentation Outline • EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) • National Center for Environmental Research’s role in (ORD) • Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grants program • 2007 Research Announcements • 2008 Outlook • STAR and GRO Fellowships • Small Business Innovative Research • Communication

3. EPA’s STRATEGIC GOALS and Primary Enabling Legislation • Clean Air and Global Climate Change • Clean Air Act • Clean and Safe Water • Safe Drinking Water Act • Clean Water Act • Land Preservation and Restoration • Solid Waste Disposal Act • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act • Healthy Communities and Ecosystems • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act • Toxic Substances Control Act • Compliance and Environmental Stewardship • Pollution Prevention Act

4. Research and Development • 1,880* employees • $540 million budget* • $56 million extramural research grant program* • 13 lab or research facilities across the U.S. • Credible, relevant and timely research results and technical support that inform EPA policy decisions *FY08 requested levels

5. Office of Research and Development Mission Advance scientific knowledge to solve the environmental problems the Agency faces • Perform human health and ecological effectsresearchthat provides scientific discoveries responsive to the environmental questions the Agency must address • Support EPA Program Offices, Regions, and other governmental and non-governmental organizations through scientific and technical advice and assistance so that their operations benefit from the most up-to-date science • Provide scientific leadership in identifying, studying, and resolving critical environmental health and ecological effects issues and in shaping the environmental health and ecological effects research agenda NHEERL Organizational Strategy 2000-2005

6. Supportfor EPA’s Mission EPA Mission: Protect human health and safeguard the natural environment – air, water, land – upon which life depends REGIONAL OFFICES Primary Interface with States and Tribes PROGRAM OFFICES (Air, Water, Waste, Pesticides/Toxics) Policies, Regulations Congressional deadlines National Decisions Implementation OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Scientific Foundation

7. High Priority Research Areas • Human Health • Particulate Matter • Drinking Water • Clean Water • Global Change • Endocrine Disruptors • Ecological Risk • Pollution Prevention • Homeland Security

8. How ORD is Organized Assistant Administrator DAA Science, DAA Management Office of Resources Management and Administration Office of Science Policy National Program Directors • Air • Drinking Water • Water Quality • Land • Pesticides and Toxics • Human Health Risk Assessment • Global Climate Change, Mercury • Human Health Research • Ecological Research National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory National Exposure Research Laboratory National Center for Environmental Assessment National Risk Management Research Laboratory National Center for Environmental Research National Homeland Security Research Center National Center for Computational Toxicology

9. Office of Research and Development Immediate Office of the Assistant Administrator George Gray, Assistant Administrator & Agency Science Advisor Kevin Teichman, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science Lek Kadeli, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Management Michael Brown, Associate Assistant Administrator Office of the Science Advisor William Benson, Acting National Program Directors Air: Dan Costa Drinking Water: Gregory Sayles, Acting Water Quality: Chuck Noss Pesticides and Toxics: Elaine Francis Land: Randy Wenstel Human Health: Hugh Tilson, Acting Ecosystem Protection: Rick Linthurst Global Change/Mercury: Joel Scheraga Office of Science Policy Jeff Morris, Acting Office of Resources Management and Administration Jack Puzak National Center for Computational Toxicology Robert Kavlock National Homeland Security Research Center Jonathan Herrmann National Risk Management Research Laboratory Sally Gutierrez National Center for Environmental Research Bill Sanders National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory Hal Zenick, Acting National Center for Environmental Assessment Peter Preuss National Exposure Research Laboratory Larry Reiter

10. How ORD Evolves its Research Program ORD Executive Council Corporate Decisions on What We Do . . . and . . . How We Do It Evaluation Program and Regional Office Feedback BOSC Program Evaluations NAS, NAPA, and other advisory bodies PART Reviews Decision Inputs Programs and Regions (RCTs) EPA Strategic Plan Administration’s priorities Congressional mandates BOSC Reviews SAB, NAS, other external advice Stakeholders NPDs, SC, MC, EC Planning the Program Implementing the Program L/C Directors Responsible forDeveloping ORD’s Research Products NPDs Decide What Research Area-Specific Work We Do and When We Do It L/C Directors Decide How ORD Produces its Research Products NPDs Responsible for Communicating Products to Clients

11. ORD Locations 3 National Laboratories 2 National Centers 2 Offices 13 Locations 11

12. ORD’s FY 2008 President's Budget, by Goal $539.8M (Total All Appropriations*) Goal 5: Compliance and Stewardship Goal 1: Clean Air Goal 2: Clean Water Goal 4: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems Goal 3: Land Preservation and Restoration *Includes S&T, SF, Oil, and LUST

13. ORD’s FY 2008 President's Budget, Goal 4$298.9M

14. What is NCER…in ORD? • ORD provides the leadership in science and conducts most of EPA’s research and development • NCER is one of four National Centers that, together with three National Laboratories, comprise the Office of Research and Development • NCERis ORD’s extramural research arm • ORD’s research budgetis approx. $540 million1, with approximately $56 million1 for competitive extramural grants and $5.91 million for fellowships (STAR and GRO) • ORD in cooperation with other EPA offices(using the ORD Strategic Plan, national environmental research needs, relevance to Agency mission, and research being done in ORD’s intramural program) selects topics for the STAR program 1 FY08 President’s Budget

15. NCER Organizational Structure Senior Science Advisors Tom Barnwell Roger Cortezi Deputy Director for Management Mission: include the country’s universities and non-profit centers in EPA’s research program and to ensure the best possible quality science in areas of highest risk and greatest importance to the Agency. • 68 full time staff • located 2 blocks from RRB

16. New Directions/NCER Leadership • Nanotechnology • Sustainability • Homeland Security • Comp Tox • Ecosystem Services • Biotechnology

17. STAR Program Summary • Mission: include this country’s universities and non-profit centers in EPA’s research program and to ensure the best possible quality of science in areas of highest risk and greatest importance to the Agency • Established in 1995 as part of the overall reorganization of ORD • Award about $66 million dollars annually • Issue about 25 RFAs annually • Manage about 1000 active research grants and fellowships • Each year: receive ~3000 grant applications; make about 200 new STAR awards, 40 awards jointly with other Federal agencies, award 140 new fellowships

18. NCER’s Extramural Programs Science To Achieve Results (STAR) Targeted Research Grants through RFAs Exploratory/Futures Grants Graduate Fellowships Competed Centers Greater Research Opportunities Earmarked Centers EPSCoR Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Contracts

19. Over $902 Million Awarded through more than 1400 STAR Grants to 402 Academic Institutions across the US since 1995 Grants & Centers

20. Over $119 Million Awarded through more than 1300 STAR Fellowships to 205 Academic Institutions across the US since 1995

21. EPA STAR Research Program • Goal-directed solicitation planning • Significant cross-agency and interagency involvement in solicitation planning, writing, and review • Competitive solicitations: award about $66 - 100 million dollars annually • Joint solicitations and funding with other agencies: adds 10% more awards to program • External peer review • Internal relevancy review: regional and program input • Fund highest priority projects • Communicate research results through website, ORD laboratories, program office and regional meetings, and publications (es.epa.gov/ncer)

22. STAR Topic Selection • Exploratory and Futures Grants – • Past:General solicitation in broad areas related to mission of the Agency; • Recently: Focused on nanotechnology • Requests for Applications(RFAs) - Topics for RFAs are selected by ORD together with other parts of EPA using criteria in the ORD Strategic Plan • Directed specifically towards national environmental science needs as related to the mission of Agency • Topics selected to complement in-house research program • Joint Solicitations with other Agencies/Organizations -Topics complement partner’s in-house research program and consistent with their mission

23. NCER’s Research Priorities Focus areas for research supported by funding through grants, fellowships, and contracts • Particulate Matter • Global Change • Ecological Services • Human Health Research • Children’s Health • Tribal Centers • Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals • Computational Toxicology • Drinking Water • Economics and Decision Sciences • Pollution Prevention • Sustainability • Nanotechnology • Exploratory Research

26. Funding by Program Area

28. 2007 STAR Research Announcements - 1 • Air Quality • Sources, Composition, and Health Effects of Coarse Particulate Matter (Closed) • Sources and Atmospheric Formation of Organic Particulate Matter (Closed) • Innovative approaches to particulate matter health, composition, and source questions (Closing Sep 11) • Near Roadway Air Pollution (Oct-07) • Drinking Water • Development and Evaluation of Innovative Approaches for the Quantitative Assessment of Pathogens or Cyanobacteria and their Toxins in Drinking Water (Closing July 10)

29. 2007 STAR Research Announcements - 2 • Global Change • Ecological Impacts from the Interaction of Climate Change, Land Use Change and Invasive Species (Closed) • Ecosystem Protection/Water Quality • Ecology and Oceanography of Hazardous Algal Blooms (EcoHAB) with NOAA, NSF, ONR and NASA (Jul-07) • Enhancing Ecosystem Services from Agricultural Lands: Developing Tools for Quantification and Decision Support (Jul-07) • Economic, Social and Behavioral Science • Environmental Behavior and Decision Making • Valuation for Environmental Policy • No announcements this year pending final appropriation decisions

30. 2007 STAR Research Announcements - 3 • Human Health • Issues in Tribal Environmental Research and Health Promotion: Novel Approaches for Assessing and Managing Cumulative Risks and Impacts of Global Climate Change (Closed) • Development of Environmental Health Outcome Indicators (Closed) • Interpretation of Biomarkers using PBDK/PD Modeling (Closing Sep 18) • Research for Outcomes and Accountability: Development of Novel Environmental Health Outcome Indicators (Closing Sep 19) • Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research (with NIEHS) (Aug-07)

31. 2007 STAR Research Announcements - 4 • Endocrine Disruptors/Biotechnology/Computational Toxicology • Computational Toxicology Centers: Development Of Predictive Environmental And Biomedical Computer-Based Simulations And Models. (Closes Jun 12) • Biotechnology: Exploratory Investigations in Food Allergy (R21) through NIH-NIAID, Jun-07) • Fellowships • STAR Graduate Fellowships (Jul-07) • GRO Graduate and Undergraduate Fellowships (Jul-07) • Pollution Prevention/Sustainability • 5th Annual P3 Awards: People, Prosperity and the Planet (Aug-07)

32. 2007 STAR Research Announcements - 5 • Nanotechnology • Nanotechnology Research Grants: Investigating Environmental Effects of Manufactured Nanomaterials: a Joint Research Solicitation - EPA, NSF & DOE, (Closing Aug 22) • NIEHS Manufactured Nanomaterials: Physico-chemical Principles of Biocompatibility and Toxicity (R01) (Closed) • Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Grants • Monitoring And Detection of Engineered Nanomaterials in the Environment (Closing Sep 13) • Exploratory • Uncertainty Analyses Of Models In Integrated Assessments (Closed) • Biodiversity and Human Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Examining the Links (Closed) • SBIR Phase I • Closed

33. NCER’s FY08 Planning Budget$64.6M

34. FY08 and Beyond Air Quality • Near-term • Source Apportionment integrating Atmospheric Science and Health • Near Roadway Cooperative Agreements • Continuing PM & Epi program • Far-term • Dynamic Air Quality Management • Cardiovascular effects (w/NIEHS) • PM Research Centers Recompete • Atmospheric Measurements and Mechanisms • Reproductive Development Effects • Accountability - health impacts of air policy decisions • Coarse Particulates RFA - follow up to 2007 RFA

35. FY08 and Beyond Human Health • Strategic Directions • Shifting from Centers to individual grants in Sensitive Subpopulations • Continue Health Outcomes Indicators with new RFA on exposure • Focus on Molecular indicators in Biomarkers research • Near-Term • Integration of Biomarkers and PBPK/PD Modeling in Risk Assessment • Research for Outcomes and Accountability: Development of Novel Environmental Health Outcome Indicators • Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research (with NIEHS) • Development of exposure related predictive models for environmental risk assessment • Far-Term • Integration of Biomarkers and PBPK/PD Modeling in Risk Assessment • Research for Outcomes and Accountability: Development of Novel Environmental Health Outcome Indicators • Community-based Cumulative Risk Assessment Research Using Molecular Approaches • Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research (with NIEHS)

36. FY08 and Beyond Ecosystems • RFA on Ecosystem Services contingent on availability of funds • Focus on collaboration with Ecology/Economics Water Quality • Continue Interagency EcoHAB program Drinking Water • Continue grants emphasis on pathogens and extend research focus to include cyanobacteria and select high priority toxins • Continue SBIR emphasis on small systems; explore research on nano-enabled sensors for DW systems

37. FY08 and Beyond Safe Products & Pesticides • Continue emphasis on Biotech and Allergenicity thru 09 to support OPPTS regulations Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals • Program focus moving from Screening and Testing to emphasis on real-life effects and exposure and links. Global Climate • Focus on Air Quality and Aquatic impacts of Global Change

38. FY08 and Beyond Mercury • Nothing specific to mercury although included in other areas such as Tribal subpopulations Hazardous Waste • Grants emphasize nanomaterials fate and transport work • SBIR focus on sensors, treatment and remediation Sustainability • People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Continues • Collaborative Network for Sustainability • Developing synergies across NCER stressing systems approaches and prevention

39. FY08 and Beyond Homeland Security • SBIR and/or GRO -- Nano-based sensors for Drinking Water and Fomites Computational Toxicity • Methods to integrate methods into environmental protection • Evolution of toxicology from animal models to cell culture-based models Exploratory • Intersection of Energy and the Environment • Impact of move the ethanol fuels and hydrogen fuels • GMO issues (plants engineered for fuel production)

40. Competed Research Centers • Cooperative Center of Excellence on Microbial Risk Assessment (1 Center, $2M/year, with DHS) • Centers of Excellence in Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research (11 centers, $9 M/year, with NIEHS) • Environmental Bioinformatics Research Center ($1 M/year) • Particulate Matter (PM) Centers (5 centers, $8 M/year) • National Statistics Center ($1.3 M/year) • Estuarine and Great Lakes (EaGLes) Program (5 programs, $6 M/year) • Hazardous Substances Research Centers (4 centers, $2.2 M/year)

41. STAR Research Partners: Examples • Nutrient Fate and Transport Through a Watershed (USDA) • Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (NOAA, NSF, ONR, NASA) • Estuarine and Great Lakes Program (NASA) • Technology for a Sustainable Environment (NSF) • Centers for Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention (NIEHS) • Phytoremediation (NSF, ONR, SERDP, DOE) • Endocrine Disruptors (NIEHS, NCI, NIOSH, NOAA) • Exposure Analysis (ACC) • Arsenic (AWWARF, ACWA) • Nanotechnology (NIOSH, NIEHS)

42. STAR Partnerships

43. Partnerships

44. NAS – “STAR Program Excels” • EPA requires a strong and balanced research program to fulfill its mission and the STAR program is an important part of the overall EPA research program • STAR program fills a unique niche by supporting important research that is not conducted or funded by other agencies and is directly relevant to the mission of EPA • STAR processes compare favorablyand in many cases substantially exceed those in other research-supporting organizations • STAR research results have already improved the scientific foundation for decision makingeven though the program is young and many of the projects have not yet been completed

45. NAS – “STAR Program Excels” • STAR researchers are leaders in their fields and are attracted to STAR from fields outside EPA’s mission • Editors of journals, officers in societies, awards of distinction such as the National Medal of Science, Guggenheim Fellowship and Nobel prizes in chemistry, engineering, and economics • STAR grant program successfully leverages funds by establishing research partnerships with other agencies • STAR fellowship program is a valuable mechanism for enabling a continuing supply of graduate students in environmental sciences and engineering to help build a stronger scientific foundation for the Nation’s environmental research and management efforts • STAR program has developed innovative approaches to communicating the results of its research

46. P3 Student Award(People, Prosperity, and the Planet) • Innovation in science and technology for sustainability: Teams of university students to design, research, and develop a scientific, policy, or technical solution to a sustainability challenge in developing and developed world • Building capacity in the Next Generation: integrating sustainability concepts into fundamental education creating a future workforce with an awareness of the impacts of their work on economy, society, and the environment, to work in a multi-disciplinary framework, and to make collaborative, interdisciplinary decisions. • Team Partnerships: Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. Teams are encouraged to partner with industry, nonprofits, and government • Program Partners: over 40 partners including industry, NGOs, professional societies, other government

47. P3 Program Results • All projects must quantify benefits of their results to the environment, economy, and society • For example, Oberlin’s Dorm Energy Competition, which spanned 2 weeks in March, resulted in: • Electricity savings of 68,500 kWh, saving the college $5,120 • Water savings of 20,500 gals, saving the college $260 Pollutants NOT released into the atmosphere as a result of the energy savings:148,000 lbs of CO2, 1,360 lbs of SO2,520 lbs of Nox • P3 projects resulted in the founding of 4 start-up companies • For example, University of Michigan students starting a consulting company “Urban Catalyst Associates” working with other cities in Michigan based on lessons learned during P3 project in Ann Arbor • Projects must also report on using P3 as an educational tool • For example, Cornell University developed a dedicated senior/grad-level 3 credit course focused on P3 project

48. Greater Research Opportunities Research Grants Started in 2004: received 47 proposals in initial solicitation, will fund 3-4 per year • Tenable at Institutions Receiving Less that $35M Federal Funding including most HBCUs, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Alaska Native Serving Institutions • 2004: Persistent, Bioaccumulative Chemicals • 2005: Nanotechnology • 2006: Remediation and Treatment • Competitive!

49. NCER Educational Support Activities • STAR Graduate Fellowships • GRO Graduate and Undergraduate Fellowships • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellowships • American Schools of Public Health (ASPH) Fellowships • Marshall Scholars Program • 3 scholarships to US students to pursue graduate environmental programs in the UK. • ORD Post Doc Term Appointments • ORD Research Triangle Park Labs – ranked #1 by post docs in survey by The Scientist

50. STAR Graduate Fellowships Greater Research Opportunity (GRO) fellowships for graduate environmental study Greater Research Opportunity (GRO) undergraduate student fellowships 2008 Fellowship Programs Announcements: Mid-Summer, 2007 Deadlines: November 2007