UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

 WASHINGTON D.C. 20460 

 

OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR 

SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD 

July 8, 2010 

EPA-SAB-10- 010 

The Honorable Lisa P. Jackson 

Administrator 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. 

Washington, D.C. 20460 

Subject: Office of Research and Development Strategic Research Directions and 

Integrated Transdisciplinary Research 

Dear Administrator Jackson: 

 On March 26, 2010, the Science Advisory Board (SAB) provided you with comments on 

the President's Requested FY 2011 Research Budget (EPA-SAB-10-005). As mentioned in that 

letter, the SAB has undertaken an advisory activity that has paralleled the annual research budget 

review since 2007: it has advised the Office of Research and Development (ORD) on strategic 

research directions. These parallel advisory activities have enabled SAB members to address 

strategic issues beyond a one-year budget horizon, while still allowing them to counsel EPA on 

practical realities related to annual budgets. We transmitted our last SAB report on ORD 

strategic directions on November 26, 2008 (EPA-SAB-09-006). We appreciated your April 21, 

2009 response to that report, where you confirmed "ORD's goals are to both solve problems of 

broad, national significance that cut across multiple EPA program and regional offices...and to 

provide the more targeted research required to meet the needs of EPA's regulatory programs." 

 Since receipt of your April 2009 response, members of the chartered SAB have met with 

ORD representatives twice (on November 9-10, 2009 and April 5-6, 2010) to continue 

discussion of ORD strategic research directions. At the November meeting, SAB members 

received briefings on ORD's sixteen research programs. They participated in breakout groups 

with ORD National Program Directors, who have lead responsibility for research planning, and 

interacted with ORD scientists in a poster session highlighting recent research projects. At the 

April 2010 meeting, ORD leadership provided a presentation linking examples of current ORD 
research activities to your key priorities (improving air quality; assuring the safety of chemicals; 

cleaning up our communities; protecting America’s waters; taking action on climate change; 

building strong state and tribal partnerships; and expanding the conversation on 

environmentalism and working for environmental justice). ORD also presented anticipated 

research accomplishments and their connection to these priority areas. ORD leadership 

emphasized that the overarching goal of sustainability is the “true north” and guiding principle 

for all ORD research activities. Effective ORD research must generate science that helps solve 

environmental problems and not just identify them. To meet this goal, ORD leaders informed us 

that ORD would increasingly undertake "integrated transdisciplinary research," defined "as the 

process to develop sustainable solutions to environmental problems by engaging partners who 

transcend traditional scientific disciplines throughout each stage of the research process." 

 At the April 2010 meeting, ORD leadership asked the SAB to address six charge topics 

related to ORD research directions and integrated transdisciplinary research: 

1. The extent to which ORD's suggested strategic research directions address your priorities 

by providing the scientific information needed to inform environmental decision-making, 

especially decisions made by EPA’s Program and Regional Offices. 

2. Suggestions for key areas that ORD should leverage by working with other (non-ORD) 

science programs across EPA and with the science programs of other Federal agencies. 

3. Areas for increased emphasis in ORD's research program over the next five years; areas 

for decreased emphasis over the next five years. 

4. Are there strategic research directions that ORD should pursue differently or undertake as 

it draws upon its unique expertise to conduct integrated, transdisciplinary research (ITR)? 

5. Where can research on socio-economics best contribute to ORD’s ITR efforts? 

6. Where can we apply lessons learned from environmental research to protect human 

health and from human health research to protect the environment? 

The intent of these charge questions was to focus SAB attention on whether ORD is "doing the 

right science." ORD leadership noted that a separate EPA federal advisory committee, ORD's 

Board of Scientific Councilors, provides ORD with detailed advice as to whether it is "doing the 

science right." Based on discussions with ORD at the November and April meetings and the 

background materials provided to us, we have reached three general conclusions and are 

providing them to you in this interim letter on ORD strategic research directions. First, we 

conclude that the current research highlighted by ORD, as well as the strategic directions ORD 

suggested in April, clearly support your key priorities in general. Second, we strongly endorse 

ORD's efforts to plan future research in light of: a) its relevance to Agency decisions linked to 

one (or preferably several) of your key priorities, b) the potential of the research to deepen 

systems thinking about root causes of environmental problems; and c) and the likelihood that 

potential research will stimulate innovative environmental problem solving. Finally, we support 

a systems approach and transdisciplinary research for ORD, because they will strengthen the 

quality and relevance of research supporting EPA's mission now and well into the future. 

However, we cannot fully address ORD's six charges because we lack the detailed 

information needed to respond to those charges. Although ORD identified many positive 

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linkages between its research programs and your key priorities, the materials provided do not 

characterize ORD's entire research portfolio. Therefore, we cannot address the extent to which 

current research activities support key priorities, or identify areas for increased emphasis or 

decreased emphasis in ORD's research program over the next five years, at this time. In 

addition, two of ORD's charges focused on integrated transdisciplinary research, but ORD did 

not provide the SAB with background information on its plans for implementation. We know 

that integrated transdisciplinary research is a work in progress. The SAB needs a clearer 

understanding of how ORD plans to develop and use the approach before we can provide 

appropriate advice on strategic directions related to it. 

ORD convincingly demonstrated linkages between ORD research contributions and EPA 

accomplishments under the key priorities. Some research program areas, such as sustainability, 

human health risk assessment, ecosystem services, and human health, contributed to all seven 

priorities. Some contributed to fewer, but all research programs showed linkages to key 

priorities in some way. 

We recommend that EPA make these linkages when planning future research programs. 

The ecosystem services program, for example, has no single program office champion, but it 

generates science that is useful for decisions affecting clean air and water, cleaning up 

communities, chemical safety, environmental justice, climate change adaptation and mitigation, 

and decisions by state and tribal partners. 

One of your key priorities, building strong state and tribal partnerships, deserves special 

mention. While some EPA offices maintain regular contact with states, tribes, and regions (e.g., 

EPA's Office of Water meets twice a year with state toxicologists involved in drinking water 

standard setting), there is no systematic communication between ORD and states regarding 

research needs. A more systematic process is needed for states and tribes to identify, organize, 

prioritize and communicate their immediate and anticipated requirements for science support 

into the ORD research planning and implementation process. States have unique perspectives on 

environmental research needs and can help inform research strategies and agendas, but many do 

not have their own resources to conduct research. ORD could be more proactive in sponsoring 

regular meetings and webinars and in encouraging ORD scientists (and managers) to participate 

in Interpersonnel Agreements (IPAs) at the state level and similarly encouraging IPAs from 

states to ORD. We recommend that ORD work actively with states, regional scientists, and local 

academics to develop interagency research projects, such as community-based research. 

The importance of a systems approach and integrated transdisciplinary research

 We believe two changes are essential to support your key priorities. It will be essential 

for EPA as a whole, and not just ORD alone, to adopt a systems approach to research planning. 

It will also be essential to plan and conduct research in new, integrated and cross-discipline ways 

to support this systems approach. The heart of a systems approach is an emphasis on 

understanding an environmental problem or environmental management strategy in relation to 

the environment as a whole, and not in isolation. A systems approach also incorporates 

“feedback loops,” where what is learned from the research is fed back to and modifies the 

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research questions being asked, as well as the management strategies taken. A systems approach 

will help EPA gain a fuller understanding of why an environmental problem occurs or how an 

environmental management strategy might work. There are few examples of using systems 

approaches in current ORD research programs, but one that stands out is the Sustainability 

Program’s and Biofuels Interagency Work Group’s approach to understanding the environmental 

impacts and benefits of biofuels. They are considering multi-media impacts and benefits to both 

humans and ecosystems related to feedstock production, transportation to processing plants, 

biofuels production and distribution, and the end-uses of the biofuels – the entire biofuels 

“system” as well as an all-encompassing range of impacts and benefits. This allows for a 

comprehensive assessment of biofuels and the development of more effective management and 

mitigation strategies. 

 A systems approach that incorporated human health concerns into global change analysis 

could be used to break down artificial barriers between human health and ecological assessment. 

Systems approaches, if applied to air research or to ORD's "one hydrosphere" vision, could help 

EPA better understand the root causes of environmental problems that may be related to energy 

usage, transportation, and local planning and zoning. 

 Integrated research across disciplines, environmental media, and organizational units is 

an essential tool in implementing the systems approach to research that will support your key 

priorities. Again, there are examples of transdisciplinary research within ORD, such as the 

Ecosystems Services program that has combined economics with ecology. We strongly 

recommend that transdisciplinary research be implemented throughout ORD as the rule rather 

than the exception. Development of such a systems-oriented, integrated transdisciplinary 

research program that is responsive, innovative, and credible will require: 1) careful planning 

and implementation; 2) strategic examination of ORD's workforce needs; 3) budget allocations 

to align with research priorities; 4) effective integration of social science expertise into ORD's 

work; and 5) commitment to conduct and evaluate transdisciplinary research pilots and apply 

lessons learned to ORD's overall research program. 

Implementing integrated transdisciplinary research: opportunities and challenges

 ORD framed its discussion of strategic research directions by providing examples of 

current ORD activity. ORD also provided a suggested research vision and strategic directions 

and examples of anticipated accomplishments for each of your seven key priorities. We support 

this approach, which links multiple ORD programs to environmental goals and tangible decision 

contexts. ORD representatives noted that the suggested research vision and strategic directions 

resulted from discussions between ORD National Program Directors, who provide leadership for 

ORD research programs, and program office counterparts. It will be valuable for ORD to 

confirm these suggested research visions with EPA managers in program and regional offices 

and regions and use the resulting visions for research to guide future planning and to 

communicate with the public about ORD's research activities. 

We recommend that ORD consider and implement as soon as possible strategies to 1) 

encourage systems approaches to research and, 2) support and provide leadership for integrated 

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transdisciplinary research teams. Planning and conducting a systems-based and integrated 

transdisciplinary research program requires mechanisms to encourage scientists to think outside 

their traditional disciplines or research programs, to seek connections and questions that cross 

research programs and media, and to look for "systems effects" related to a research question. 

National Program Directors noted the utility of linkages across ORD research programs and 

linkages to your priorities in preparation for the SAB meeting. In the process, many discovered 

new areas for possible collaboration, coordination, and data sharing. ORD representatives also 

acknowledged that there is no clear process or mechanism to establish leadership in 

interdisciplinary work beyond the National Program Director community. Collaboration and 

coordination on research projects too often occurs serendipitously rather than deliberately. 

ORD's presentations demonstrated the value of transdisciplinary research and 

collaboration across research program areas. However, ORD's management structure currently 

provides the ORD Executive Committee and Laboratory Directors with primary control of 

resources, while research planning is the responsibility of National Program Directors. 

Integrated transdisciplinary research requires alignment of research resources with Agency 

priority needs and is more likely to succeed with true matrix management that recognizes those 

priorities and addresses resource allocation decisions. EPA's management of resources will need 

to evolve to support transdisciplinary teams and their work. Priority areas such as environmental 

justice, ecosystem services, sustainability, and climate change, which have no single program 

office advocate and which are strong candidates for integrated transdisciplinary research, will 

especially need a change in management and support to sustain viable research programs. 

 

 The primary drivers for ORD's future research should be the overall goal of 

sustainability, the Agency's key priorities, and the potential for encouraging innovation. Where 

possible, ORD should play to its historical strengths, but ORD legacy programs should not 

determine ORD's future research. Two areas where ORD's historical expertise relates directly to 

your priorities and link to sustainability and innovation are the domains of assuring the safety of 

chemicals and environmental justice. We encourage ORD to continue investments in green 

chemistry and green engineering, and developing new ways to assess and model chemical 

toxicity, including determining cumulative risks, toxicity of chemical mixtures, and toxicity of 

vulnerable life stages. These new approaches will foster innovation to strengthen American 

international trade competitiveness and may even open new opportunities for green jobs and 

businesses in environmental justice communities. Similarly, environmental justice is a natural 

platform for bringing together a wide array of disciplines in a model where integrated research 

can play a role in eliminating problems that lead to environmental justice issues. ORD should 

look for opportunities to work with communities to address such issues, where ORD can link its 

historical expertise in chemical assessment and engineering to the social sciences. The SAB 

would be pleased to work with the Agency to identify additional implementation opportunities.

 

Role of social and behavioral sciences

 ORD’s research direction largely misses strategic opportunities related to social and 

behavioral sciences. It also misses the opportunity to improve ORD research programs by 

incorporating social and behavioral sciences. It is important to note that your priorities call for 

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preventing and reducing adverse environmental impacts (e.g. improving air quality, protecting

America’s water, taking action on climate change), not just studying how and why our lifesustaining environmental resources are being degraded. If the intent is to have impact, then 

research on social and behavioral science topics offer the most promising avenues to advance 

your priorities. EPA needs to reorient its research agenda to recognize that many environmental 

threats stem from the actions, decisions, and behaviors of individual Americans. The automobile 

and its emissions is a classic example. ORD’s list of current activities includes studying the 

effect of vegetation on pollution reduction and studying emissions of biofuel blends. Although 

these represent important areas of research, they reflect ORD's legacy programs, oriented toward 

regulatory support. They are likely to have little impact in terms of understanding and 

influencing the social and decision-making dimensions of automobile purchases, commuting, 

and vehicle miles traveled. Similar arguments can be made for strengthening research related to 

unique social and behavioral patterns in environmental justice communities, understanding how 

water is used and valued, and studying how energy is consumed and the impact of consumption 

patterns on climate change. Social and behavioral sciences can provide knowledge that also 

assists EPA in communicating science in ways that help people better understand their choices 

and give them options for changing behavior. 

 Although ORD has reached out to social and economic scientists in some areas (e.g., 

through the use of consultants in its ecosystem services research program and through a recent 

extramural solicitation for social science research related to improving homeland security risk 

communication), ORD lacks intramural expertise to involve social scientists where they are 

needed. Social, behavioral, and economic scientists have consistently been involved only in 

ORD's global change program. They should be involved in all integrated transdisciplinary 

research efforts, from initial problem formulation through final project evaluation. In addition, 

research on benefits, costs, public values and perceptions, and behavior should be viewed as 

appropriate subjects for environmental research and not as factors outside the paradigm for 

science and research that ORD presented to SAB members at the April 5-6, 2010 meeting. 

Importance of research partnerships

 The scientific and policy issues that underlie many of the critical and inter-related global 

challenges facing our planet are complex and cut across multiple program offices within EPA as 

well as many federal agencies. Due to the nature of the challenges and scientific capacity within 

EPA, there is strong justification for EPA to provide leadership in establishing multi-agency 

partnerships that leverage resources and provide comprehensive solutions. For example, 

effective solutions to climate change and air pollution can best be achieved through partnership 

with DOE. Similarly, effective solutions to the inter-related issues of water quality, land use, 

and urban and agricultural run-off require partnerships with U.S. Department of Agriculture and 

U.S. Geological Survey. 
Conclusion

 The comments provided in this letter are interim comments on ORD strategic research 

directions and integrated transdisciplinary research. We are seeking continued and more focused 

dialogue with ORD as part of the Board's efforts to advise on science and research supporting 

EPA's decisions. The SAB looks forward to any comments you have at this time on our initial 

reflections on these important topics. 

 Sincerely, 

 /Signed/ 

 

 Deborah L. Swackhamer, Chair 

 Science Advisory Board 

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NOTICE 

This report has been written as part of the activities of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB), 

a public advisory group providing extramural scientific information and advice to the 

Administrator and other officials of the Environmental Protection Agency. The SAB is 

structured to provide balanced, expert assessment of scientific matters related to problems facing 

the Agency. This report has not been reviewed for approval by the Agency and, hence, the 

contents of this report do not necessarily represent the views and policies of the Environmental 

Protection Agency, nor of other agencies in the Executive Branch of the Federal government, nor 

does mention of trade names of commercial products constitute a recommendation for use. 

Reports of the SAB are posted on the EPA website at http://www.epa.gov/sab. 

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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Science Advisory Board 

CHAIR 

Dr. Deborah L. Swackhamer, Professor and Charles M. Denny, Jr., Chair in Science, 

Technology and Public Policy and Co-Director of the Water Resources Center, Hubert H. 

Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 

MEMBERS 

Dr. David T. Allen, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas, 

Austin, TX 

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, Associate Professor, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and 

Marine Science Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 

Dr. Timothy Buckley, Associate Professor and Chair, Division of Environmental Health 

Sciences, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 

Dr. Thomas Burke, Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins 

Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 

Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta, Professor, Department of Environmental Medicine, School of 

Medicine and Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 

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, Product Safety and Regulatory 

Affairs, Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, 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. David A. Dzombak, Walter J. Blenko Sr. Professor of Environmental Engineering , 

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon 

University, Pittsburgh, PA 

Dr. T. Taylor Eighmy, Vice President for Research, Office of the Vice President for Research, 

Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 

Dr. Elaine Faustman, Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health 

Sciences, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, 

WA 

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Dr. John P. Giesy, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and 

Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada 

Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health and Community 

Medicine, School of Medicine, Tufts University, Boston, MA 

Dr. James K. Hammitt, Professor, Center for Risk Analysis, Harvard University, Boston, MA 

 

Dr. Rogene Henderson, Senior Scientist Emeritus, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, 

Albuquerque, NM 

Dr. Bernd Kahn, Professor Emeritus and Associate Director, Environmental Radiation Center, 

School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 

Dr. Agnes Kane, Professor and Chair, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 

Brown University, Providence, RI 

Dr. Nancy K. Kim, Senior Executive, New York State Department of Health, Troy, NY 

Dr. Catherine Kling, Professor, Department of Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 

Dr. Kai Lee, Program Officer, Conservation and Science Program, David & Lucile Packard 

Foundation, Los Altos, CA (Organizational affiliation provided for identification purposes only) 

Dr. Cecil Lue-Hing, President, Cecil Lue-Hing & Assoc. Inc., Burr Ridge, IL 

Dr. Floyd Malveaux, Executive Director, Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc., Washington, 

DC 

Dr. Lee D. McMullen, Water Resources Practice Leader, Snyder & Associates, Inc., Ankeny, 

IA 

Dr. Judith L. Meyer, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, Odum School of Ecology, 

University of Georgia, Lopez Island, WA 

Dr. Jana Milford, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, 

Boulder, CO 

Dr. Christine Moe, Eugene J. Gangarosa Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health, 

Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 

Dr. Eileen Murphy, Manager, Division of Water Supply, New Jersey Department of 

Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ 
Dr. Duncan Patten, Research Professor, Hydroecology Research Program , Department of Land 

Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 

Dr. Stephen Polasky, Fesler-Lampert Professor of Ecological/Environmental Economics, 

Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 

Dr. Stephen M. Roberts, Professor, Department of Physiological Sciences, Director, Center for 

Environmental and Human Toxicology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 

Dr. Amanda Rodewald, Associate Professor, School of Environment and Natural Resources, 

The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 

Dr. Joan B. Rose, Professor and Homer Nowlin Chair for Water Research, Department of 

Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 

Dr. Jonathan M. Samet, Professor and Flora L. Thornton Chair, Department of Preventive 

Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 

Dr. James Sanders, Director and Professor, Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Savannah, 

GA 

Dr. Jerald Schnoor, Allen S. Henry Chair Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental 

Engineering, Co-Director, Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research, University 

of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 

Dr. Kathleen Segerson, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 

CT 

Dr. V. Kerry Smith, W.P. Carey Professor of Economics , Department of Economics , W.P 

Carey School of Business , Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 

Dr. Herman Taylor, Director, Principal Investigator, Jackson Heart Study, Jackson, MS 

Dr. Barton H. (Buzz) Thompson, Jr., Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law 

at the Stanford Law School and Perry L. McCarty Director, Woods Institute for the 

Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 

Dr. Paige Tolbert, Professor and Chair, Department of Environmental Health, Rollins School of 

Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 

Dr. Thomas S. Wallsten, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, University of 

Maryland, College Park, MD 

Dr. Robert Watts, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Emeritus, Tulane University, 

Annapolis, MD 

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LIAISON MEMBERS 

Dr. Steven Heeringa, Director, Division of Surveys and Technologies, Institute for Social 

Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 

Chair, FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel 

Dr. James H. Johnson, Professor and Dean, College of Engineering, Architecture & Computer 

Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC 

Chair, National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology 

Dr. Gary Sayler, Beaman Distinguished Professor, Joint Institute for Biological Sciences, Oak 

Ridge National Laboratory, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 

Chair, ORD Board of Scientific Counselors 

Dr. Pamela Shubat, Supervisor, Health Risk Assessment, Minnesota Department of Health, St. 

Paul, MN 

Chair, Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee 

SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD STAFF 

Dr. Angela Nugent, Designated Federal Officer, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

1400F, Washington, DC, Phone: 202-343-9981, Fax: 202-233-0643, (nugent.angela@epa.gov)