UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON D.C. 20460
OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
January 3 0,2014
EPA-SAB-14-004
The Honorable Gina McCarthy
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Subject: Concern about the Future of the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowship
Program
Dear Administrator McCarthy:
The Science Advisory Board wishes to register strong concern about changes to and the possible
demise of the STAR fellowship program, which has provided support since 1995 for graduate
students pursuing advanced degrees in environmental science. As the National Research Council
has noted, the STAR fellowship program has made an important contribution to training
promising students to obtain advanced degrees and pursue careers in environmentally related
fields and to developing the next generation of environmental scientists.l Over the lifetime of the
program, 1,681 graduate fellows have received support for their careers as environmental
scientists, spanning a wide range of fields including public health, epidemiology, ecology,
relevant social sciences, and environmental engineering. The program has been highly
competitive, serving as the only federal fellowship program designed exclusively for students
pursuing advanced degrees in these fields.
The SAB has learned that EPA granted no new STAR fellowship awards in 2013, despite having
received 1,387 applications for the program, and that the agency has not issued a STAR
fellowship announcement for the 2014 academic year. The SAB understands that this
interruption in the program resulted from a federal government effort to consolidate existing
graduate education programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. At a recent SAB meeting, an EPA
representative explained that this consolidation occurred in an effort to improve the delivery,
impact, and visibility of STEM graduate education programs.
1 National Research Council, The Measure of STAR: Review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science
to Achieve Results (STAR) Research Grants Program Committee to Review EPA's Research Grants Program,
National Research Council. ISBN: 0-309-51672-2. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003
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Because of the important role STAR fellowships play in training future environmental scientists
and engineers whose research will help meet the agency's mission, the SAB has several
questions and concerns, because the NSF mission and research priorities may not align entirely
with EPA's research mission to inform decisions to protect human health and the environment.
How will the EPA interact with NSF to ensure that agency priority science needs would be
addressed? How will EPA's mission-critical needs for future environmental scientists and
engineers be taken into account by the National Science Foundation (NSF)? How will EPA and
the NSF work together to improve the delivery, impact, and visibility of graduate programs in
environmental science and engineering in the new consolidated program? When and how will
the next graduate fellowships in environmental science and engineering be awarded? If the NSF
program does not specifically support graduate fellowships in environmental science and
engineering or does not support them at least at the level provided by the EPA STAR program,
how will the EPA encourage new generations of environmental scientists who will develop the
new methods and science needed by the agency?
The SAB considers the STAR fellowship program to be an important component of the EPA
extramural research program that has played an important role in making the agency a leader in
environmental science and research. Although a small program, it plays such a significant role in
creating the future science and research needed by the EPA that we wanted to bring our concerns
to your attention and to offer our assistance as appropriate. We look forward to the agency's
response to the questions and concerns in this letter.
Sincerely,
Dr. David T. Allen, Chair
Science Advisory Board
Enclosure
(1) Roster of SAB Members
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Science Advisory Board
CHAIR
Dr. David T. Allen, Gertz Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Director of the
Center for Energy and Environmental Resources, The University of Texas, Austin, TX
MEMBERS
Dr. George Alexeeff, Director, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California
Environmental Protection Agency, Oakland, CA
Dr. Pedro Alvarez, Department Chair and George R. Brown Professor of Engineering,
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX
Dr. Joseph Arvai, Svare Chair in Applied Decision Research, Department of Geography,
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Dr. Thomas Burbacher, Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health
Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington , Seattle, WA
Dr. Ingrid Burke, Director and Wyoming Excellence Chair, Haub School and Ruckelshaus
Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY
Dr. Edward T. Carney, Departmental Senior Science Leader and Director of Predictive
Toxicology Center, Toxicology & Environmental Research and Consulting, The Dow Chemical
Company, Midland, MI
Dr. Peter Chapman, Principal and Senior Environmental Scientist, Golder Associates Ltd,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dr. Terry Daniel, Professor of Psychology and Natural Resources, Department of Psychology,
School of Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Dr. George Daston, Victor Mills Society Research Fellow, Global Product Stewardship, The
Procter & Gamble Company, Mason, OH
Dr. Costel Denson, Managing Member, Costech Technologies, LLC, Newark, DE
Dr. Otto C. Doering III, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University,
W. Lafayette, IN
Dr. Michael Dourson, President, Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, Cincinnati, OH
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Dr. Joel Ducoste, Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental
Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Dr. David A. Dzombak, Walter J. Blenko, Sr. University Professor of Environmental
Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. T. Taylor Eighmy, Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement, Office of Research,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
Dr. Elaine M. Faustman, Professor and Director, Environmental and Occupational Health
Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Dr. R. William Field, Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, and
Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Dr. H. Christopher Frey, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Civil,
Construction and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, North Carolina State
University, Raleigh, NC
Dr. John P. Giesy, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and
Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Dr. Steven Hamburg, Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund, Boston, MA
Dr. Cynthia M. Harris, Director and Professor, Institute of Public Health, Florida A&M
University, Tallahassee, FL
Dr. Robert J. Johnston, Director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute and Professor,
Economics, Clark University, Worcester, MA
Dr. Kimberly L. Jones, Professor and Chair, Department of Civil Engineering, Howard
University, Washington, DC
Dr. Catherine Karr, Associate Professor - Pediatrics and Environmental and Occupational
Health Sciences and Director - NW Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit, University of
Washington, Seattle, WA
Dr. Madhu Khanna, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
Dr. Nancy K. Kim, Senior Executive, Health Research, Inc., Albany, NY
Dr. Francine Laden, Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental
Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, and Channing Division of Network Medicine,
Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
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Dr. Lois Lehman-McKeeman, Distinguished Research Fellow, Discovery Toxicology, Bristol-
Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ
Dr. Cecil Lue-Hing, President, Cecil Lue-Hing & Assoc. Inc., Burr Ridge, IL
Dr. Elizabeth Matsui, Associate Professor, Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, MD
Dr. Kristina D. Mena, Associate Professor, Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and
Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at
Houston, El Paso, TX
Dr. Surabi Menon, Director of Research, ClimateWorks Foundation, San Francisco, CA
Dr. James R. Mihelcic, Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South
Florida, Tampa, FL
Dr. Christine Moe, Eugene J. Gangarosa Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health,
Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Dr. H. Keith Moo-Young, Chancellor, Office of Chancellor, Washington State University, Tri-
Cities, Richland, WA
Dr. Eileen Murphy, Director of Research and Grants, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy,
Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
Dr. James Opaluch, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental and Natural Resource
Economics, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island,
Kingston, RI
Dr. Duncan Patten, Director, Montana Water Center, and Research Professor, Hydroecology
Research Program, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State
University, Bozeman, MT
Dr. Martin Philbert, Dean and Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public
Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Mr. Richard L. Poirot, Air Quality Planning Chief, Air Quality and Climate Division, Vermont
Department of Environmental Conservation, Montpelier, VT
Dr. Stephen Polasky, Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological/Environmental Economics,
Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
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Dr. Amanda Rodewald, Director of Conservation Science, Cornell Lab of Ornithology and
Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Natural Resources,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Dr. James Sanders, Executive Director, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, University of
Georgia, Savannah, GA
Dr. William Schlesinger, President, Gary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY
Dr. Gina Solomon, Deputy Secretary for Science and Health, Office of the Secretary, California
Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA
Dr. Daniel O. Stram, Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Division of Biostatistics,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Peter S. Thorne, Director, Environmental Health Sciences Research Center and Professor
and Head, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, College of Public Health,
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Dr. Paige Tolbert, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of
Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Dr. Jeanne VanBriesen, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. John Vena, University of Georgia Foundation Professor in Public Health and
Head, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished
Scholar, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
Dr. Peter J. Wilcoxen, Associate Professor, Economics and Public Administration, The
Maxwell School, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD STAFF
Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Washington, DC,
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