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 competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by the Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
The 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.
Additional copies of this report are available from:
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Virtual Commission on Environmental Management Science
2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., HA 456
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Copyright 1996 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, California
NAOMI H. HARLEY,
New York University Medical Center, New York
DEREK R. LOVLEY,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
GENE G. MANNELLA,
Gas Research Institute (retired), Potomac, Maryland
NORINE E. NOONAN,
Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne
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
KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Study Director *
TAMAE MAEDA WONG, Senior Staff Officer †
SUSAN B. MOCKLER, Research Associate *
PATRICIA A. JONES, Project Assistant *
ERIKA L. WILLIAMS, Project Assistant *
JOSHUA A. CHAMOT, Intern *
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* |
Board on Radioactive Waste Management |
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† |
Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology |
VIRTUAL COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
PERRY L. MCCARTY, Chair,
Stanford University, 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,
ENVIRON Corporation, Emeryville, California
ROYCE W. MURRAY,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
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
This is the first of three reports by the Committee on Building an Environmental Management Science Program. The committee was established by the National Research Council to help the Department of Energy 's Office of Environmental Management improve the effectiveness of its Environmental Management Science Program—a mission-directed, basic research program to support cleanup of the nation's nuclear weapons complex. The department announced this program in a Federal Register Notice in February 1996 and received more than 800 proposals from researchers at universities, national laboratories, and industry. The department is in the final stages of proposal review and expects to make award decisions in July 1996. In this initial assessment, the committee has restricted its findings and recommendations to the department's near-term needs as it completes the review of these proposals and develops the FY 1997 program plan. These near-term issues are well represented by the questions that constitute the statement of task for this first committee report:
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How can basic research be used to help DOE-EM to complete its mission successfully in the next few decades?
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How can a basic research program help add value to DOE-EM's cleanup efforts?
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What kinds of technical challenges would likely benefit from a program in basic research?
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How can the research program take advantage of the unique capabilities of U.S. universities and federal labs?
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How can the research program take advantage of research efforts and capabilities in other DOE programs and other federal agencies?
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What, if any, additional areas of research should be included in the FY 1997 program announcement as the DOE EMSP evolves?
The committee's future reports will address the longer-term science and management needs of this program and will be issued later this year.
