Building an Effective Environmental Management Science Program: Final Assessment (1997)
Chapter: FRONT MATTER
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This work was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Contract No. DE-FC01-94EW54069/R. All opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Energy.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 97-65687
International Standard Book Number 0-309-05730-2
Additional copies of this report are available from:
National Academy Press
2101 Constitution Ave., NW Box 285 Washington, DC 20055 800-624-6242 202-334-3313 (in the Washington Metropolitan Area) http://www.nap.edu
Copyright 1997 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
COMMITTEE ON BUILDING AN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SCIENCE PROGRAM
JOHN F. AHEARNE, Chair,
Sigma Xi, and Duke University, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
EDWARD M. ARNETT,
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
STANLEY I. AUERBACH,
SENES Oak Ridge, Inc., Oak Ridge, Tennessee
EDWARD J. BOUWER,
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
JOHN I. BRAUMAN,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
NAOMI H. HARLEY,
New York University Medical Center, New York
HAROLD LEWIS,
University of California (retired), Santa Barbara
DEREK R. LOVLEY,*
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
ALEXANDER MACLACHLAN,
DuPont (retired), Wilmington, Delaware
GENE G. MANNELLA,
Gas Research Institute (retired), Potomac, Maryland
NORINE E. NOONAN,
Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne
JEROME SACKS,
National Institute of Statistical Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
ALFRED P. SATTELBERGER,
Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
LEON T. SILVER,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Consultants
GREGORY R. CHOPPIN,
Florida State University, Tallahassee
DONALD J. DEPAOLO,
University of California, Berkeley
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Staff
TAMAE MAEDA WONG, Senior Staff Officer§
SUSAN B. MOCKLER, Research Associate
ERIKA L. WILLIAMS, Research Assistant
PATRICIA A. JONES, Senior Project Assistant
DENNIS L. DUPREE, Senior Project Assistant
VIRTUAL COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
PERRY L. McCARTY, Chair,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
RICHARD A. CONWAY,
Union Carbide Corporation, South Charleston, West Virginia
DONALD J. DEPAOLO,
University of California, Berkeley
DAVID J. GALAS,
Darwin Molecular Corporation, Bothell, Washington
MICHAEL C. KAVANAUGH,
Malcolm Pirnie, Oakland, California
ROYCE W. MURRAY,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
GREGORY SYMMES, Reports Officer
JAMES MALLORY, Administrative Officer
SANDI FITZPATRICK, Administrative Associate
The Committee on Building an Environmental Management Science Program is a joint activity of the Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems; Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources; Commission on Life Sciences, and Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is interim president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government, and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and interim vice-chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
PREFACE
The Committee on Building an Environmental Management Science Program was established under the auspices of the National Research Council at the request of Thomas P. Grumbly, Under Secretary of Energy, to advise the Department of Energy on the structure and management of the Environmental Management Science Program (EMSP)-a mission-directed basic research program to support cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons complex. The committee met seven times from May to November 1996 and produced three reports: an initial assessment report1 that addresses the near-term needs of the program related to the fiscal year 1996 proposal competition; a letter report2 that addresses the development of a fiscal year 1997 program announcement; and the present report, which addresses longer-term challenges and opportunities for the program. The statement of task for this report is given in Appendix A under Activity #2: Science and Management Needs.
The DOE cleanup program is the federal government's largest environmental program. The length of time estimated to complete the cleanup task and the dollars estimated to be spent make this program the largest environmental program of any nation. But the program faces many problems that will require new knowledge and fundamental understanding of basic chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and their relationship to risk. The EMSP, a small and new program, has as its goal to develop that basic knowledge, and this report and its predecessors have the goal of assisting the Department in structuring and managing the EMSP.
The production of three reports in an 8-month period was an extremely difficult task and could not have been accomplished without a dedicated committee and staff. The committee's first meeting was held on Mother's Day weekend, and the second meeting was held on Father's Day weekend. By the third meeting, a semblance of sanity had settled on
|
1 |
National Research Council. 1996. Building an Effective Environmental Management Science Program: Initial Assessment. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. This report is reprinted in Appendix F and is available on the World Wide Web at the following address: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/envmanage/index.html. |
|
2 |
Letter Report to the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Risk Policy, October 8, 1996 (Appendix G). |
the committee, which was able to schedule all but one of its remaining meetings during "normal" working hours.
Despite the large task to be accomplished in a short time, the committee reached a near consensus on all issues. Dr. Hal Lewis has included a supplementary statement in Appendix D noting his disagreement with the committee on a few of its conclusions. I have responded to Dr. Lewis's concerns in Appendix E.
I wish to extend my personal thanks to the committee—especially its vice-chair, Norine Noonan—and the committee's three consultants for their diligent work on this project. On behalf of the committee, I also wish to thank the DOE headquarters staff, national laboratory staff, DOE contractor staff, and the many other individuals (see Appendix B) who provided information for this study and answered the committee's many questions. The committee particularly wishes to acknowledge the efforts of Carol Henry, Mark Gilbertson, and Steve Domotor from the Office of Environmental Management; Michelle Broido, Ari Patrinos, and Roland Hirsch from the Office of Energy Research; and Terry Surles and Sally Benson from the Strategic Laboratory Council.
Finally, the committee wishes to thank the staff of the National Research Council for their help with this study: Tamae Maeda Wong for help with meeting organization and report writing, Erika Williams and Susan Mockler for report research, and Tricia Jones and Dennis DuPree for meeting and committee support. This report reflects the great effort, considerable insight, and writing skills of the Study Director Kevin Crowley.
John F. Ahearne, Chair
