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Summary
The stated mission of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
to protect human health and the environment. Since its formation in 1970, EPA
has had a leadership role in developing many fields of environmental science
and engineering. From ecology to health sciences and environmental engineer-
ing to analytic chemistry, EPA has performed, stimulated, and supported re-
search; developed environmental education programs; supported regional sci-
ence initiatives; supported safer technologies; and enhanced the scientific basis
of informed decision-making. Science has always been an integral part of EPA's
mission and is essential for providing the best-quality foundation of agency de-
cisions. Today the agency's science is increasingly in the public eye, federal
budgets are decreasing, and job creation and innovation are key national priori-
ties.
In anticipation of future environmental science and engineering challenges
and technologic advances, EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to
assess the overall capabilities of the agency to develop, obtain, and use the best
available scientific and technologic information and tools to meet persistent,
emerging, and future mission challenges and opportunities. The NRC was also
asked to identify and assess transitional options to strengthen the agency's capa-
bility to pursue and use scientific information and tools. In response, the NRC
convened the Committee on Science for EPA's Future, which prepared the pre-
sent report.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES AND TOOLS TO ADDRESS THEM
The committee's report highlights a few persistent and emerging environ-
mental challenges and tools and technologies to address them. Although the
topics discussed in the report are only illustrative, the report provides specific
examples and gives context to the committee's discussion of a broader frame-
work for building science for environmental protection in the 21st century. Hav-
ing assessed EPA's current activities, the committee notes that EPA is well
equipped to take advantage of many scientific and technologic advances and
that, in fact, its scientists and engineers are leaders in some fields.
3
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4 Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead
Current and Persistent Environmental Challenges
There has been substantial progress over the last few decades in lessening
many of the obvious environmental problems, such as black smoke coming from
smokestacks, stench arising from rivers, and fish kills in US lakes. But the chal-
lenges associated with environmental protection today are complex, affected by
many interacting factors, and no less daunting. They are on various spatial
scales, may unfold over long temporal scales, and may have global implications.
The problems are sometimes called "wicked problems", and are often character-
ized by being difficult to define, unstable, and socially complex; having no clear
solution or end point; and extending beyond the understanding of one discipline
or the responsibility of one organization. Although the committee cannot predict
with certainty what new environmental problems EPA will face in the next 10
years or more, it can identify some of the common drivers and common charac-
teristics of problems that are likely to occur. Some key features of persistent and
future environmental challenges are complex feedback loops; the need to under-
stand the effects of low-level exposures to numerous stressors as opposed to
high-level exposures to individual stressors; the need to understand social, eco-
nomic, and environmental drivers; and the need for systems thinking to devise
optimal solutions.
The following are a few examples of persistent and emerging environ-
mental challenges that pertain to EPA and its mission.
Chemical Exposures, Human Health, and the Environment. New chemi-
cals continue to be created and enter the environment. Understanding what
chemicals are in the environment, concentrations at which people are being ex-
posed, pathways through which they are being exposed, and how different
chemicals and stressors interact with one another encompasses some of the per-
sistent challenges that EPA faces. Another challenge is to continue to elucidate
the many factors that can modify the health effects of exposure to chemicals and
other stressors. The chemical, biologic, and physical characteristics of an agent,
the genetic and behavioral attributes of a host, and the physical and social char-
acteristics of the environment are all influential.
Air Pollution and Climate Change. Emissions of major air pollutants were
dramatically reduced from 1990 to 2010. Much of that success resulted from the
establishment and enforcement of the Clean Air Act. Despite substantial pro-
gress, the agency's efforts to improve air quality continue to have high priority
because the economic costs that air pollution imposes on society remain high.
The Clean Air Act and other statutory mandates give rise to the need for im-
proved scientific and technical information on health exposures and effects, on
ecologic exposures and effects, on ambient and emission monitoring techniques,
on atmospheric chemistry and physics, and on pollution-prevention and emis-
sion-control methods for hundreds of pollutants present in both indoor and out-
door environments. EPA also faces the critical challenge of helping to find effi-
cient and effective approaches to mitigating climate change and improving
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Summary 5
understanding of how to adapt environmental management in the face of climate
change.
Water Quality. The availability of clean water is essential for human con-
sumption, personal hygiene, agriculture, business practices, recreation, and other
activities. National water-quality policy has been driven primarily by the Clean
Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act. With increasing demands on
freshwater supplies, particularly in the more arid regions of the western United
States, the challenges of providing freshwater are prominent today and will
probably continue to be a concern in the future, especially as climate change
alters water supply. Furthermore, water-quality challenges remain pressing, in-
cluding the need to monitor and understand the transport and fate of contami-
nants, the need to maintain and update aging water-treatment infrastructure, and
the need to address the persistent problem of nutrient pollution.
As progress has been made in solving local problems and as more has
been learned about the health and environmental consequences of chronic low-
level exposures to diverse and disperse physical and chemical stressors, envi-
ronmental science and engineering has begun to focus on impacts over wider
geographic areas. The spatial and temporal scales required to understand emerg-
ing environmental issues vary widely, and their range is widening as more is
learned about the systems and feedback loops underlying the observed phenom-
ena. These large-scale problems require improved understanding of the fate and
transport of contaminants on international and global scales and of options for
coordinated solutions. Long-term monitoring is also needed to identify and track
changes and problems that develop slowly.
Developing Tools and Technologies to Address Environmental Challenges
Supporting the development of leading-edge scientific methods, tools, and
technologies is critical for understanding environmental changes and their ef-
fects on human health and for identifying solutions. In addition, addressing the
challenges of the future will require a more deliberate approach to systems
thinking and interdisciplinary science, for example, by using frameworks that
strive to characterize and integrate a broad array of interactions between humans
and the environment. Although new tools and technologies can substantially
improve the scientific basis of environmental policy and regulations, many of
the new tools and technologies need to build on and enhance the current founda-
tion of environmental science and engineering. Some tools and technologies that
EPA has used or could use to address environmental and human health chal-
lenges are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Many advancing tools and technologies are being used to understand the
transport and fate of chemicals in the environment, to understand the extent of
human exposures, and to identify and predict the extent of potential toxic ef-
fects. For example, advances in separation and identification of nucleotides,
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6 Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead
proteins, and peptides and advances in spectrometric methods have enabled a
better understanding of molecular-level biologic processes. Those types of tools
are an integral part of EPA's computational toxicology program and are being
applied to the development of new approaches to assess and predict toxicity in
vitro. Advances in biomonitoring, sensor technology, health tracking, and in-
formatics are improving the understanding of individual exposures and associ-
ated health endpoints. If EPA is to continue this work, it will need to maintain
and increase its expertise in such fields as toxicology, exposure science, epide-
miology, molecular biology, information technology, bioinformatics, computer
science, and statistical modeling.
Advances in remote sensing since the launch of Landsat 1 in 1972 are con-
tinuing to improve the understanding of contaminant sources, fate, and transport
and the understanding and monitoring of landscape ecology and ecosystem ser-
vices. Using remotely collected data effectively to gain information also requires
advances in modeling of various components of the Earth's biogeophysical sys-
tems, including improved techniques for data assimilation and modeling. As an
example in the air-pollution arena, active sensors, such as satellite sensors and
aircraft-mounted light detection and ranging sensors, can provide information on
the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols and can provide important spatial,
temporal, and contextual information about the extent, duration, and transport
paths of pollution. Remote sensing is also being used to monitor fugitive re-
leases of methane, hazardous air pollutants, and volatile organic compounds
from landfills and other diffuse or dispersed sources. What had been thought to
be an excessively expensive monitoring challenge is proving financially and
practically manageable.
Methods for identifying and quantifying chemicals, microorganisms, and
microbial products in the environment continue to improve. For example, the
most recent advances in the detection of microorganisms in water include quan-
titative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods, which can be designed for
any microorganism of interest because they are highly specific and quantitative.
In addition to updating water-quality standards and addressing health studies and
swimmer surveys, EPA has begun to use PCR techniques to understand coastal
pollution, address polluted sediments, decrease response time for detecting pol-
luted waters, and improve protection of public health on beaches and coastlines.
Such advances as the deployment of quantitative PCR require linking biology,
mathematics, health, the environment, and policy to support substantial interdis-
ciplinary research focused on problem-solving and systems thinking.
New tools and technologies are collecting larger, more diverse sets of data
on increasing spatial and temporal scales. Knowledge and expertise in such
fields as computer science, information technology, environmental modeling,
and remote sensing are necessary to collect, manage, analyze, and model those
datasets. One method for collecting information across larger geographic spaces
and over longer periods is public engagement. For example, during massive on-
line collaborations, participants can be invited to help to develop a new technol-
ogy, carry out a design task, propose policy solutions, or capture, systematize, or
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Summary 7
analyze large amounts of data. EPA is already exploring crowdsourcing and
citizen-science approaches. Improving capabilities of managing and ensuring the
quality of very large datasets acquired through public engagement holds promise
for EPA to be able to gather and analyze large amounts of data and input inex-
pensively.
Using New Science to Drive Safer Technologies and Products
The tools and technologies for handling scientific data have generally been
thought of in the context of refined risk-assessment processes. That use of scien-
tific information is focused in large part on detailed and nuanced problem identi-
fication--that is, a holistic understanding of causes and mechanisms. Such work
is important and valuable in understanding how toxicants and other stressors
affect environmental health and ecosystems, and at times it is required by stat-
ute. However, the focus on problem identification sometimes occurs at the ex-
pense of efforts to use scientific tools to develop safer technologies and solu-
tions. Defining problems without a comparable effort to find solutions can
diminish the value of applied research efforts. Furthermore, if EPA's actions
lead to a change in a chemical, technology, or practice, there is a responsibility
to understand alternatives and to support a path forward that is environmentally
sound, technically feasible, and economically viable.
EPA has taken global leadership in three fields of innovative solution-
oriented science: pollution prevention, Design for the Environment, and green
chemistry and engineering. That suite of programs reflects non-regulatory ap-
proaches that protect the environment and human health by designing or redes-
igning processes and products to reduce the use and release of toxic materials.
The programs emphasize education and assistance, alignment of environmental
protection with economic development, and strong partnerships between agen-
cies, industry, nongovernment organizations, and academic institutions. They
require expertise in traditional environmental science, but there is also a critical
need for behavioral and social sciences in advancing the development and adop-
tion of safer chemicals, materials, and products. The data that the behavioral and
social sciences provide are important inputs for characterizing and making the
economic case for new technologies, for understanding business and consumer
behavior, and for effecting behavioral changes so that innovations for safer ma-
terials reflect consumer preferences.
BUILDING SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN THE 21st CENTURY
As a regulatory agency, EPA applies many of its resources to implement-
ing complex regulatory programs, including substantial commitments of scien-
tific and technical resources to environmental monitoring, applied health and
environmental science, risk assessment, benefitcost analysis, and other activi-
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8 Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead
ties that form the foundation of regulatory decisions. The primary focus on its
regulatory mission can engender controversy and place strains on the conduct of
EPA's scientific work in ways that do not occur in most other government sci-
ence agencies. Amid this inherent tension, science in EPA generally and in
EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) in particular strives to sup-
port the needs of the agency's present regulatory mandates and timetables, to
identify and lay the intellectual foundations that will allow the agency to meet
current and emerging environmental challenges, to determine the main environ-
mental research problems on the US environmental-research landscape, to sus-
tain and continually rejuvenate a diverse inhouse scientific staff to support the
agency, and to strike an appropriate balance between inhouse and extramural
research investment. In light of the inherent tensions, the current and persistent
environmental challenges, and newly developed and emerging tools and tech-
nologies, the committee created a framework for building science for environ-
mental protection in the 21st century (see Figure S-1). Environmental and hu-
man health challenges of the future and the tools and technologies that will
emerge to address them cannot be predicted, but the committee offers the
framework to help EPA to be prepared to respond to unknown challenges in the
future and to bolster its ability to respond to current and persistent environ-
mental challenges. The framework relies on four key ideas:
First, effective science-informed regulation and policy aimed at pro-
tecting human health and environmental quality rely on robust approaches
to data acquisition, modeling, and knowledge development (see the "Analy-
sis of Key Measures to Advance Knowledge" box in Figure S-1). Management
and interpretation of "big data" will be a continuing challenge for EPA inas-
much as new technologies can generate large amounts of data quickly. In many
instances, large amounts of data are acquired directly as a component of hy-
pothesis-driven research. However, many new technologies generate large vol-
umes of data that may not be derived from a clear, hypothesis-driven experiment
but nevertheless may yield important new insights. That type of research is re-
ferred to as discovery-driven research. In both instances, the data must be ana-
lyzed and interpreted and then placed in the context of an appropriate problem
or scientific theory. As depicted in Figure S-1, there must be iterations and feed-
back loops, particularly between data acquisition and data modeling, analysis,
and synthesis. Knowledge generation, which can take many forms depending on
the question being addressed and the nature of the data, ultimately serves as the
basis of science-informed regulation and policy. The committee recognizes that
scientific data constitute only one--albeit important--input into decision-
making processes that alone cannot resolve highly complex and uncertain envi-
ronmental and health problems. Ultimately, environmental health decisions and
solutions will need to incorporate economic, societal, behavioral, political, and
other considerations in addition to science.
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Complex Challenges for the Future
Problem Formulation
Hypothesis Generation
Needs Assessment
Technical Approaches
Analysis of Key Measures to Advance Knowledge Knowledge
Data Acquisition Environmental Fate
Impacts
Ecologic Population Health
Biologic Data Modeling, Exposure and Dose
Physical Analysis, and Mechanism and Mode of Action
Chemical Synthesis Implications
Epidemiologic Costs
Socioeconomic Feedback
Outcomes Behavioral Behaviors
Balanced Informed Decisions Informatics Decision Options
Improved Health
Cleaner Environment
Lower Costs
Systems Thinking to Assess Implications of Decisions
Applying Science that Anticipates, Innovates, Takes the Long View, Is Collaborative Translation and
Communication
Applications, Decisions, Synthesis and Evaluation Systems Tools and Skills
and Actions Sustainability Analysis Life-Cycle Assessment
Policy Solution-Oriented Approaches Cumulative Risk Assessment
Regulation Multiple-Criteria and Social, Economic, Behavioral,
Social Change Multidimensional Tools and Decision Sciences
Uncertainty Synthesis Research
FIGURE S-1 Framework for enhanced science for environmental protection. The iterative process starts with effective problem formulation, in
which policy goals and an orientation toward solutions help to determine scientific needs and the most appropriate methods. Data are acquired
as needed and synthesized to generate knowledge about key outcomes. This knowledge is incorporated into an array of systems tools and solu-
tions-oriented synthesis approaches to formulate policies that best improve public health and the environment while taking account of social
and economic impacts. Once science-informed actions have been implemented, outcome evaluation can help determine whether refinements to
any previous stages are required (see the dotted lines in the figure).
9
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10 Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead
Second, EPA can maintain its global position by staying at the leading
edge of science (see the "Systems Thinking to Assess Implications of Deci-
sions" box in Figure S-1). Staying at the leading edge will require consideration
of existing and on-the-horizon challenges and efforts to predict, address, and
prevent future challenges. The committee suggests the following overarching
actions for addressing wicked problems:
Anticipate. Be deliberate and systematic in anticipating scientific, tech-
nologic, and regulatory challenges.
Innovate. Support innovation in scientific approaches to characterize
and prevent problems and to support solutions through sustainable technologies
and practices.
Take the long view. Track progress in ecosystem protection and human
health over the medium term and the long term and identify needs for course
corrections.
Be collaborative. Support interdisciplinary collaboration within and
outside the agency, across the United States, and globally.
Third, maintaining leading-edge science requires the development and
application of systems-level tools and expertise for the systematic analysis of
the health, environmental, social, and economic implications of individual
decisions (see the "Systems Tools and Skills" box in Figure S-1). Leading-edge
science will produce large amounts of new information, and many multifactorial
problems will require systems-thinking approaches. Over the years, EPA has
become more accomplished in addressing cross-media problems and avoiding
"solutions" that transfer a problem from one medium to another (for example,
changing an air pollutant to a water or solid-waste pollutant). However, future
problems will become more complex and will go beyond cross-media situations,
such as global climate and land-use patterns. Many analytic systems tools can
contribute to analyzing and evaluating complex scenarios, including life-cycle
assessment; cumulative risk assessment; social, economic, behavioral, and deci-
sion sciences; and synthesis research. Regardless of the analytic systems tools
used, it is important to characterize and integrate information on both human
health and ecosystem effects.
Fourth, maintaining leading-edge science requires the development of
tools and methods for synthesizing scientific information and characterizing
uncertainties. It should also integrate methods for tracking and assessing
the outcomes of actions (that is, for being accountable) into the decision
process from the outset (see the "Synthesis and Evaluation" box in Figure S-1).
Systems-level problems are rarely amenable to simple quantitative decision
measures and may require multiple types of information and characterization of
different types of uncertainty. Examples of approaches for synthesizing informa-
tion to support holistic decisions include sustainability analysis, solutions-
oriented approaches (such as health impact assessment, alternatives assessment,
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Summary 11
and costbenefit analysis), and multiple-criteria and multidimensional decision-
making. Regardless of which analytic tools or indicators EPA uses to support
decisions in the future, uncertainty will be an overriding concern. Consistent and
holistic approaches to characterizing and recognizing uncertainty will allow
EPA to articulate the importance of uncertainty in light of pending decisions and
to avoid becoming paralyzed by the need for increasingly complex computa-
tional analysis.
The committee recommends that EPA consider the following actions to
implement the elements underlying the framework in Figure S-1:
Engage in a deliberate and systematic "scanning" capability involving
staff from ORD, other program offices, and the regions. Such a dedicated and
sustained "futures network" (as EPA has called groups in the past with a similar
function), with time and modest resources, would be able to interact with other
federal agencies, academe, and industry to identify emerging issues and bring
the newest scientific approaches into EPA.
Develop a more systematic strategy to support innovation in science,
technology, and practice.
Substantially enhance EPA's capacity to apply systems thinking to all
aspects of its approach to complex decisions.
Invest substantial effort to generate broader, deeper, and sustained sup-
port for long-term monitoring of key indicators of environmental quality and
performance.
ENHANCED LEADERSHIP AND CAPACITY IN THE
US ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
To implement the key strategies described above and the framework illus-
trated in Figure S-1, strong science leadership and capacity in EPA are essential.
The committee has identified four key areas where enhanced leadership and
capacity can strengthen the agency's ability to address current and emerging
environmental challenges and to take advantage of new tools and technologies
to address them.
Enhanced agency-wide science leadership. There has been progress to-
ward agency-wide science integration with the establishment of the Office of the
Science Advisor, and further progress might be made with the shift of the sci-
ence advisor position from within ORD to the Office of the Administrator in
early 2012. However, that office may need further authority from the adminis-
trator or additional staff resources to continue to improve the integration and
coordination of science across the programs and regions throughout the agency.
Someone in a true agency-wide science leadership position, with clear lines of
authority and responsibility, could take the form of a deputy administrator for
science, a chief scientist, or possibly an enhanced version of the current science
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12 Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead
advisor position. He or she could direct efforts to extend ORD's successful mul-
tiyear science plans to an agency-wide plan that integrates science needs of the
programs and the regional offices with the scientific efforts of ORD, program
offices, and regions. With such leadership in place, regional administrators, pro-
gram assistant administrators, and staff members at all levels need to be held
accountable for ensuring scientific quality and the integration of individual sci-
ence efforts with broader efforts throughout the agency. Even with the full sup-
port of the administrator and senior staff, the effort will fail if the need to im-
prove the use of science in EPA is not accepted by staff at all levels.
More effective coordination and integration of science efforts within the
agency. Given the need for integrated, transdisciplinary, and solutions-oriented
research to solve 21st century environmental problems, the existing structure
focused on ORD as the "science center" that establishes the scientific agenda of
EPA will not be sufficient; ORD only conducts a portion of EPA's scientific
efforts, and more than three-fourths of EPA's scientific staff work outside ORD.
Instead, efforts to strengthen EPA science will need to incorporate efforts, re-
sources, expertise, and scientific and nonscientific perspectives of program and
field offices. Such efforts need to support the integration of both existing and
new science throughout the agency; avoid duplication or, worse, contradictory
efforts; respect different sets of priorities and timeframes; and advance common
goals.
Strengthened scientific capacity inside and outside the agency. Optimizing
resources, creating and benefiting from scientific exchange zones, and leading
innovation through transdisciplinary collaborations will require forward-
thinking and resourceful scientific leadership and capacity at various levels in
the agency. In such a situation, EPA would need to use all its authority effec-
tively, including pursuing permanent Title 42 authority, to recruit, hire, and re-
tain the high-level science and engineering leaders that it needs to maintain a
strong inhouse research program. EPA would also need to maintain a "critical
mass" of world-class experts who have the ability to identify and access the nec-
essary science inside or outside EPA and to work collaboratively with research-
ers in other agencies. Mechanisms through which that could be achieved include
sabbaticals and other leave, laboratory rotations, and the Science to Achieve
Results fellowship program. The committee found that a particular area where
EPA lacks expertise is in the social, behavioral, and decision sciences.
Support of scientific integrity and quality. Critics of EPA's regulations (as
either too lax or too stringent) have sometimes charged that valid scientific in-
formation was ignored or suppressed, or that the scientific basis of a regulation
was not adequate. EPA's best defense against such criticisms is to ensure that it
distinguishes transparently between questions of science and questions of policy
in its regulatory decisions; to demand openness and access to the scientific data
and information on which it is relying, whether generated in or outside the
agency; and to use competent, balanced, objective, and transparent procedures
for selecting and weighing scientific studies, for ensuring study quality, and for
peer review. The need to describe methods clearly for selecting and weighing
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Summary 13
studies is evident given the criticisms of assessments prepared for EPA's Inte-
grated Risk Information System (IRIS). Over the last decade, several NRC
committees that reviewed IRIS assessments noted a need to improve formal,
evidence-based approaches to increase transparency and clarity in selecting
datasets for analysis and a greater focus on uncertainty and variability. Those
points were reiterated in the 2011 NRC report Review of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency's Draft IRIS Assessment of Formaldehyde. EPA has announced
that it is working to address the concerns raised in that report and is currently
sponsoring, at the request of Congress, an NRC study to assess the scientific,
technical, and process changes being implemented for IRIS.
Based on the four key areas identified above, the Committee on Science
for EPA's Future recommends that EPA strengthen its capability to pursue the
scientific information and tools that will be needed to meet current and future
challenges by
Substantially enhancing the responsibilities of a person in an agency-
wide science leadership position to ensure that the highest-quality science is
developed, evaluated, and applied systematically throughout the agency's pro-
grams. The person in that position should have sufficient authority and staff re-
sources to improve the integration and coordination of science across the
agency. If this enhanced leadership position is to be successful, strengthened
leadership is needed throughout the agency and the improved use of science at
EPA will need to be carried out by staff at all levels.
Strengthening its scientific capacity. This can be accomplished by con-
tinuing to cultivate knowledge and expertise within the agency generally, by
hiring more behavioral and decision scientists, and by drawing on scientific re-
search and expertise from outside the agency.
Creating a process to set priorities for improving the quality of EPA's
scientific endeavors. The process should recognize the inevitably limited re-
sources while clearly articulating the level of resources required for EPA to con-
tinue to ensure the future health and safety of humans and ecosystems.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
For over 40 years, EPA has been a national and world leader in addressing
the scientific and engineering challenges of protecting the environment and hu-
man health. The agency's multi-disciplinary science workforce of 6,000 is bol-
stered by strong ties to academic research institutions and science advisers rep-
resenting many sectors of the scientific community. A highly competitive
fellowship program also provides a pipeline for future environmental science
and engineering leaders and enables the agency to attract graduates who have
state-of-the-art training.
The foundation of EPA science is strong, but the agency needs to continue
to address numerous present and future challenges if it is to maintain its science
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14 Science For Environmental Protection: The Road Ahead
leadership and meet its expanding mandates. There is a pressing need to groom
the interdisciplinary-thinking and collaborative leaders of tomorrow and prepare
for the coming retirement of large numbers of senior scientists. As this report
underscores, there is an increased recognition of the need for cross-disciplinary
training and of the need to expand the capacity in social and information sci-
ences. In addition, EPA will continue to need leadership in traditional core dis-
ciplines, such as statistics, chemistry, economics, environmental engineering,
ecology, toxicology, epidemiology, exposures science, and risk assessment.
EPA's future success will depend on its ability to address long-standing envi-
ronmental problems, its ability to recognize and respond to emerging challenges,
its ability to link broader problem characterization with solutions, and its capac-
ity to meet the scientific needs of policy-makers and the American public.
