about
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                NC
             Building a Scientific Foundation for Sound Environmental Decisions
   The National Center for Environ-
   mental Research (NCER) was es-
   tahlisksd in May 1995, as part of
   the overall reorganization  of the
   Office of Research and Develop-
   ment (ORD).  Since its establish-
   ment, NCER has had a unique
   place in ORD and the Agency. Its
   competitive, peer-review re-
   search focus  and commitment to
   involve the country's best  scien-
   tists is intended to play an impor-
   tant role in enhancing EPA's cred-
   ibility as a scientific organization
   and helping ORD achieve its goal
   of providing national and interna-
   tional leadership in environmen-
   tal science and risk assessment.
   NCER's Mission: Stimulate  the re-
   search community to provide high
   quality, innovative ideas and so-
   lutions to  protect human health
   and the environment. NCER's
   aims are to:
   1) achieve excellence in  research by
     supporting only the highest quality
     research through national research
     competitions and independent peer
     review of proposals.
   2) focus on the highest priority
     environmental science and
     engineering needs to assist EPA in
     its mission of protecting human
     health and the environment.  This is
     accomplished by working with
     EPA's Program anu Regional
     Offices, ORD scientists, the EPA
     Science Advisory Board, the ORD
     Board of Scientific Counselors,  and
     federal partners and private
     partners, and the academic
     community.
3) achieve high levels of accountabil-
   ity and integrity by having an
   entirely open, transparent, and
   competitive process; by ensuring that
   procedures and schedules for
   solicitations, reviews and awards are
   clearly established; and by publishing
   and broadly disseminating research
   results.
4) leverage resources and form
   partnerships on common federal
   and private sector research agendas
   through coordination with research
   partners and joint issuance of
   solicitations.
5) communicate/integrate research
   results through workshops and
   seminars to summarize results of
   research; state-of-the-science papers
   that assimilate research results; and
   a technical liaison program  in ORD
   laboratories and program offices.
6} develop the next generation of
   environmental scientists through
   graduate and undergraduate fellow-
   ship programs.
7) provide ORD-wide policy develop-
   ment and implementation over-
   sight of the EPA quality assurance
   program.

Science to Achieve Results
     The STAR  Program, "Science
To Achieve  Results", NCER's
largest and moo*, visible initiative,
(accounting for 85 pc rcent of its
annual budget),  funds research
grants and fellowships in environ-
mental science and engineering.
     The STAR  program is one  of
EPA's tools for focusing on sci-
ence and improving the scientific
basis for decisions on national
environmental issues. The
program works by engaging
(competitively) the participation of
the nation's best scientists in
credible, targeted research that
complements EPA's own out-
standing scientists and research
program and that of our research
partners in other federal agen-
cies. STAR is structured to bring
new ideas and solutions to deal
with current environmental
problems, and to identify, and
help to resolve issues that are
likely to become environmental
problems in the future. Further,
the STAR program facilitates and
expands access to research
information and communicates
science results through work-
shops, publications, and the
Internet.
    The STAR program has four
formal solicitation periods during
the year--January, April, August,
and October-and uses its
Internet homepage as the
primary vehicle to announce
Requests for Applications
(RFAs) in some 20 targeted
areas.
    These RFAs are derived
from the ORD Strategic Plan and
from specific topical research
plans developed by ORD. The
RFAs are prepared in coopera-
U.S. EPA  / Office of Research and Development / National Center tor Environmental Research

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                                                                         Annual Active STAR Grants
   tion with other parts of the
   Agency and focus research on
   areas of particular importance to
   the Agency, and/or areas that
   complement the ORD intramural
   research program and the pro-
   grams of our research partners.
Research Partnership grants and
125 graduate fellowships cover-
ing a total of 280 institutions and
organizations in 49 states and
Guam, Puerto Rico, and the
District of Columbia.  On an
annual basis, NCER administers
      Jhe SJAR program has grown over the past six /ears, and now awards $95 million
                  dollars annually and supports between 900-1000 active grants and fellowships
        The research that NCER
   sponsors covers the entire gamut
   of EPA interests. The main areas
   that we are focusing on currently
   include: the effects of air pollu-
   tion,  especially fine particuiates,
   on human health; the impacts of
   chemical and microbiological
   contaminants in drinking water on
   human health; the effects of
   exposure to toxic chemicals on
   sensitive populations, especially
   children; the impact on people of
   cumulative exposures to many
   chemicals through many different
   pathways; ecological indicators of
   ecosystem health and trends; the
   effect of endocrine disrupters on
   human health and wildlife popula-
   tions; and the effects of human
   activities on global climate
   change.  For more details look on
   the NCER website.
        NCER
   receives approxi-
   mately 3000-
   3500 proposals
   each year for its
   STAR research
   and graduate
   fellowships
   program. Each
   year the STAR
   program awards
   a bout 180 EPA
   grants, 30 EPA
650 - 750 STAR research grants
and some 300 STAR fellowships.
Approximately 10 percent of the
applications submitted to the
STAR program are funded.
Other NCER programs  include:
     From time to time, NCER
will establish larger research
centers competitively in specific
areas of national concern. At
present such centers focus on
harzardous substances,
children's health, and particulate
matter research.
     Other NCER activities
include the Small Business
Innovation Research program,
the Experimental Program To
Stimulate Competitive Research
(EPSCoR), the Minority Aca-
                                  demic Institution Program for
                                  Graduate and Undergraduate
                                  Fellowships, the AAAS Science
                                  and Engineering Fellowship
                                  Program, and the Resident
                                  Research Associateship Program.
                                  The STAR Partnerships have
                                  expanded significantly. In 1995,
                                  the STAR Program began a
                                  partnership with NSF in three
                                  topical areas. The number of
                                  partners has grown to about
                                  twelve in 2000 and includes
                                  private sector organizations as
                                  well as federal agencies. In
                                  addition, the funds so leveraged
                                  have increased  as well, allowing
                                  about 20% more grants to be
                                  funded than would be possible
                                  with EPA resources alone.
     Visit our web site to obtain current STAR grants
     information:  www.epa.gov/ncerqa
^J CDA
 .f L_ I r\
          United States Environmental Protection Agency
          Office of Research and Development
NATIONAL CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
U.S. EPA / Office of Research and Development / National Center for Environmental Research

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