Building an Effective Environmental Management Science Program Final Assessment (1997) / Chapter Skim
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CHAPTER 5: MANAGEMENT OF THE EMSP
CHAPTER 5: MANAGEMENT OF THE EMSP
Pages 55-66
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From page 55... ...
The committee summarizes the conclusions from its previous reports and provides additional comments in this chapter on the following issues: long-term management strategies, maintaining program quality, assessing outcomes, and applying the results of basic research. LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES The conference report that created the EMSP directed that the program be managed by the Office of Energy Research (ER)
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From page 56... ...
The committee received information on the management of the EMSP from several sources, including oral briefings from EM and ER staff at the committee meetings and various written documents prepared in response to committee questions about the program. 20ral presentation from the Director, Office of Science and Risk Policy (DOEEM)
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From page 57... ...
Indeed, when considered against the small size of the EMSP and its focus on basic research, the management structure seems overloaded with administrators and coordinators. As the program settles into a "steady state" over the next several years, the committee believes that simplification of program management and a clearer delineation of responsibilities among all management participants is needed to ensure its continued effectiveness.
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From page 58... ...
At the same time, the Program Director must be able to balance the interests of ER (to support highquaTity basic research) and EM (to support research that is relevant to the cleanup mission)
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From page 59... ...
as supporting ER management with an ER Program Director (alternative 21. This alternative does have appeal-the EMSP is a basic research program, and ER is highly skilled at managing basic research.
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From page 60... ...
The committee has an additional concern with alternatives 2 and 3: if the EMSP Program Director reported either to EM or to ER, he or she would be driven by the interests of those offices and would find it difficult to operate independently of those interests. The committee believes that it is essential to keep both EM and ER involved in the EMSP because each plays different, largely complementary, and equally important roles in the program.
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From page 61... ...
faces in creating a basic research program that will serve the needs of a highly goal-oriented organization such as EM. In some respects the committee is troubled by the prospect of a program enmeshed In an irreconcilable conflict between the character of its basic research and the need for this research to be ultimately useful to EM and the cleanup effort, particularly given the small size of the program in relation to the total EM effort.
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From page 62... ...
Many universities also use visiLng committees to review the quality of their academic programs In some cases, members of the committee include representative sponsors of research on campus and can effectively articulate the viewpoint of a "customer." The committee believes that the EMSP would similarly benefit from periodic, independent peer reviews. These reviews should address all aspects of EMSP program management, including · the merit and relevance review processes, · quality of Finned proposals, · effectiveness of the application of research results to technology development and cleanup, effectiveness of the program in attracting outstanding researchers and innovative research ideas, and .
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From page 63... ...
the number of research projects with documented peer-reviewed research results.6 In view of the wide breadth of disciplines supported within EMSP and the well-recognized problems of assessing performance of basic research,7 the committee advises the Department against attempting the development of a general, formal quantitative structure for assessing the performance of the work of its investigators. Nevertheless, the committee believes that it will be essential to review and assess the quality of EMSP on a penodic basis.
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From page 64... ...
To accomplish this task, the panel should be provided with information about EMSP by the Program Director that includes but is not limited to the following: · a comprehensive listing of publications by EMSP grantees; · a listing of graduate and postdoctoral students trained by EMSP investigators; the degrees, if any, awarded; and current positions of these students; . a compilation of the most significant scientific results of EMSP with a discussion of how these were selected; .
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From page 65... ...
The Program Director might be well served In this regard by exploring what strategies are being used by other federal agencies that support basic research. However, the committee believes that attempts at short-term assessments of basic research programs such as EMSP will have very limited value at best.
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From page 66... ...
and managers from other research programs. The Program Director should assume responsibility for determining how to best structure such activities so that they serve the interests of investigators and EM's needs for information transfer.
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