Office Of Research & Development Research Articles

Using researcher and stakeholder perspectives to develop promising practices to improve stakeholder engagement in the solutions-driven research process.

Translational approaches to science have the potential to produce research that better meets the needs of community stakeholders and advances scientific understanding. Researchers involved in translational research make committed efforts to increased engagement and communication with stakeholders throughout the research process, from planning through implementation and evaluation. Referred to as solutions-driven research within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Research Development, this approach is being piloted on Cape Cod (Barnstable County), Massachusetts. EPA researchers are working in close coordination with community partners on the Cape to better understand and address challenges with managing nonpoint source nitrogen. The pilot also aims to assess the usefulness of solutions-driven research approaches for application in future EPA research efforts. Using semi-structured interviews with researchers and other stakeholders, we examined researchers’ and stakeholders’ perspectives on the impacts of intentional and intensive stakeholder engagement on research efforts to improve coastal water quality. This study provides a reflexive assessment of the perceived benefits and drawbacks for researchers and other stakeholders when there is an institutional expectation of an increased focus on engagement. We found that engagement has been truly intertwined with research in the pilot, participants perceived an improvement in research usefulness through developing valuable collaborative relationships, and that these relationships required significant time commitments to maintain. We also identified a need for an efficient infrastructure for developing and distributing communication materials for continued engagement with diverse stakeholders throughout the research process. The paper provides transferable practices for researchers seeking to use a solutions-driven research approach based on lessons learned thus far in how to support researchers and research planning in simultaneously prioritizing effective engagement and sound collaborative environmental science research to address a localized environmental challenge. This is an innovative approach in that interviews occurred as the implementation phase of the project began, with the goal of implementing the lessons learned outlined here in the ongoing project.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42532-022-00119-5.

Evaluation of Palladium-Based Sorbents for Trace Mercury Removal in Electricity Generation

The development of warm-gas cleanup (WGCU) systems for synthesis gas (syngas) cleanup in in- tegrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants has the potential to lower the costs of generating power. WGCU includes the removal of mercury (Hg), present in coal, from the syngas. Carbon-based sorbents used for Hg removal are not suitable for high-temperature Hg removal in conjunction with the WGCU. The US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (DOE/NETL) Office of Research & Development (ORD) has been developing various sorbent alternatives to address the problem of high-temperature Hg removal. This study presents analysis of the capture of Hg from syngas streams as a polishing step to attain US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) requirements for Hg (0.003 lb/GWhgross for new IGCC plants) using palladium (Pd) adsorbent being tested by DOE/NETL in association with Johnson Matthey (JM). For the present study, it was assumed that syngas is already cleaned to 5 parts per billion by weight (ppbw) Hg, and the Pd sorbent technology is used as a polishing step to achieve the EPA MATS requirements (0.003 lb/GWhgross, equivalent to 2 ppbw given representative process configuration and material flows). The incremental cost of Hg polishing and the additional capital cost needed were estimated for several scenarios/cases. These cases were differentiated by variance in the following parameters, which are important because they have direct im- pacts on additional capital costs ($/kW), and in turn impacts on the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE): 1) Pd cost (varied from $4,000 to $12,000/lb Pd); 2) Gas hourly space velocity (SV) (varied from 500 to 13,500 h-1); 3) Pd loading (varied between 2 w/w% Pd and 5 w/w% Pd); 4) Sorbent make-up rate (varied between 3%, 1%). The ranges were chosen in order to reasonably reflect, in the cases that are analyzed, the actual fluctuations that have been observed in past *Corresponding author. experience in these important parameters that affect cost (e.g., the Pd cost has kept to within the $4 to 12 k/lb range in recent years). In the case of SV, the high and low points of the range are extremes beyond which costs would either be unreasonable, or increase in cost benefit would be negligible. For a typical case (i.e., using mid-range values of the parameters, including SV of 8000 h-1, 2% Pd loading, 3% make-up rate, $9500/lb Pd cost), the increase in LCOE due to the Pd-polishing system is approximately 0.4% and the additional capital cost is ~$10/kW. As a comparison, the incremental capital cost of conventional Hg removal in an IGCC plant is ~$4 to 8/kW, and the increase in the LCOE is less than 0.4%. Results indicate that in the range of SVs from 3500 h-1 to 10,000 h-1, the Hg-polishing step is expected to function adequately and with increase of LCOE limited to about 1% - 2%. The use of a Pd sorbent-based polishing system to reduce trace Hg levels to the EPA MATS requirements for new IGCC power generation appears to be feasible and reasonably cost-effective.

Environment Agency Science Reviewed

The Environmental Protection Agency needs to bolster coordination among science efforts within the agency to strengthen its scientific capacity, the National Research Council concludes in a report issued last week. Scientific work at EPA has a strong foundation, the report finds. The agency, however, must change how it studies and then acts on persistent and emerging environmental challenges such as climate change and human exposure to an increasing number of chemicals in the environment. Members of Congress and others perceive EPA’s Office of Research & Development (ORD) as establishing the agency’s science agenda, says Jerald L. Schnoor, who chaired the committee that wrote the report. But only a quarter of the agency’s 6,000 scientists work at ORD, the report says. Many scientists work in regulatory offices on water, air, waste, or chemical control; some work in the agency’s economic analysis unit; and others are at one of EPA’s 10 regional ...

EPA’S SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY

CONGRESS CONTINUED its investigation into the state of scientific integrity at EPA last week. A Senate panel questioned the current and former heads of the agency’s Office of Research & Development (ORD) under President George W. Bush. Senators focused on a controversial new policy that gives federal agencies facing cleanup liability more, and sometimes secret, opportunities to sway EPA’s health assessments of pollutants. Senators heard opposing views from George Gray, the current ORD chief who oversaw EPA’s adoption of that policy, and Paul Gilman, who headed ORD from 2002 to 2004. Gray defended the secrecy requirement, telling a Senate Environment & Public Works subcommittee that it “encourages a free and frank exchange” among agencies. Gray added, “At the end of the new assessment process, we are very transparent about what we have done” because EPA makes public the scientific rationale for its chemical health assessments. But Gilman said that federal agencies that pollute should ...

EPA'S RESEARCH NEEDS: LOOKING FORWARD

THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION Agency needs to focus its research on several areas of emerging concern, including detection of nanomaterials, former leaders of EPA's science program said on May 17. Five former EPA assistant administrators for the Office of Research & Development (ORD) returned to Washington, D.C., to speak at the agency's annual science forum about challenges facing ORD. Their service at EPA spanned from the Administration of Ronald Reagan to that of George W. Bush. Some gave concrete recommendations for EPA research, while others offered general statements about ORD. Robert J. Huggett, who led a major reorganization of ORD when he was its chief between 1994 and 1997 during the Clinton Administration, made a number of specific suggestions for EPA research. Nanotechnology products pose a major challenge for EPA, which up to now has addressed only conventional chemicals as pollutants, Huggett said. No standard methods exist for detecting nanomaterials, he noted, nor are there standard ...

Short-Term Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Executive Processing, Memory, and Emotion

1875 Short-term aerobic exercise is known to enhance information processing speed. It is not known if exercise bouts differentially influence select components of cognition (executive processes and memory) and associated emotional states. PURPOSE: To determine whether a submaximal aerobic exercise bouts affects mental processes that influence both speed of processing and learning. METHODS: Twenty-two healthy college students (12 men, age = 21.8 ± 1.7 yrs; 10 women, age = 21.3 ± 2.06 yrs) performed a test of executive processing (Task-Switching test, TS) and short-term memory (Brown-Peterson test, BP) before and after exercise or rest. The exercise consisted of 30 min of cycling at 60%V.O2max with a 5-min warm-up and cool-down. Emotional reactivity to the mental demands of the two cognitive tests was assessed via the NASA-Task Load Index. RESULTS: Response times during the TS decreased significantly following both exercise and rest interventions (p<0.01). The number of items recalled during the BP memory test was not influenced by exercise. The workload associated with the BP was significantly higher than with the TS (p<0.01). Emotional reactivity to the BP memory test declined following both exercise and rest (p<0.05). Compared to TS, BP was perceived as more mentally demanding (p<0.001), temporally demanding (p<0.05), frustrating (p<0.05), and required more effort to perform, (p<0.001). Participants rated both the BP and the TS to be less frustrating following exercise, but not after rest (p<0.05). Women's ratings of their perceived level of performance during both cognitive tests were significantly lower than were men's ratings (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: A single bout of aerobic exercise and a rest period resulted in comparable facilitation of information processing speed; whereas, neither treatment influenced short-term memory processes. Exercise and rest periods differentially affected emotional reactivity. Supported by the Office of Research Development & Outreach, College of Education, University of Georgia.

Short-Term Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Executive Processing, Memory, and Emotion

1875 Short-term aerobic exercise is known to enhance information processing speed. It is not known if exercise bouts differentially influence select components of cognition (executive processes and memory) and associated emotional states. PURPOSE: To determine whether a submaximal aerobic exercise bouts affects mental processes that influence both speed of processing and learning. METHODS: Twenty-two healthy college students (12 men, age = 21.8 ± 1.7 yrs; 10 women, age = 21.3 ± 2.06 yrs) performed a test of executive processing (Task-Switching test, TS) and short-term memory (Brown-Peterson test, BP) before and after exercise or rest. The exercise consisted of 30 min of cycling at 60%V.O2max with a 5-min warm-up and cool-down. Emotional reactivity to the mental demands of the two cognitive tests was assessed via the NASA-Task Load Index. RESULTS: Response times during the TS decreased significantly following both exercise and rest interventions (p<0.01). The number of items recalled during the BP memory test was not influenced by exercise. The workload associated with the BP was significantly higher than with the TS (p<0.01). Emotional reactivity to the BP memory test declined following both exercise and rest (p<0.05). Compared to TS, BP was perceived as more mentally demanding (p<0.001), temporally demanding (p<0.05), frustrating (p<0.05), and required more effort to perform, (p<0.001). Participants rated both the BP and the TS to be less frustrating following exercise, but not after rest (p<0.05). Women's ratings of their perceived level of performance during both cognitive tests were significantly lower than were men's ratings (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: A single bout of aerobic exercise and a rest period resulted in comparable facilitation of information processing speed; whereas, neither treatment influenced short-term memory processes. Exercise and rest periods differentially affected emotional reactivity. Supported by the Office of Research Development & Outreach, College of Education, University of Georgia.

Do bio‐based products move us toward sustainability? A look at three USEPA case studies

AbstractThe movement to buy “environmentally‐friendly” products was recently reinvigorated by the signing of the 2002 Farm Act that requires all federal agencies to give preference to products made, in whole or significant part, from biobased material. This paper addresses the reality behind widely held beliefs regarding “green” issues, and shows how complex it can be to choose among alternative products. Examples are presented in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) used diff e rent approaches, all based on life cycle assessment (LCA), to evaluate the environmental trade ‐offs of bio‐based alternatives. These examples incorporate various combinations of life cycle inventory (LCI) and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA).The first example presents results of a USEPA Office of Research &amp; Development (ORD) project called the Framework for Responsible Environmental Decision‐Making (FRED). The FRED framework uses a set of impact categories in an LCIA. Motor oil, wall insulation, and asphalt coating alternatives were all studied using FRED. The second example is a pilot study in the USEPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program. Using a mix of LCI and LCIA, transformer oil and hard surface cleaner alternatives were evaluated. Finally, the paper presents preliminary LCI results of another ORD effort comparing fuel additives ethanol and MTBE. These examples demonstrate that the move to bio‐based products is not an across ‐ the ‐ board “win” for the environment. While LCAs cannot, at this time, provide a definitive answer as to the preferability of bio‐based products, it is the best tool to identify environmental tradeoffs, thereby providing additional information to support decision‐making.

OF GENES AND CHEMICAL TESTING

TALK OF GENE CHIPS AND COMputational chemistry lights up J. Paul Gilman's eyes. Gilman, 49, is the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research & Development (ORD). He's fresh from three years at Celera Genomics, the Rockville, Md.-based company best known for decoding the human genome, where he was director of policy planning. Gilman is eager to lead EPA's research office onto new ground. Computational toxicology is a major focus for Gilman. This involves use of microarrays, also known as gene chips-small glass or plastic plates containing hundreds or thousands of DNA strands-to determine how exposure to a chemical affects gene function. And it uses computational techniques to extrapolate results from one chemical to compounds with similar structure. Toxicology is one of EPA's core competencies, and the agency must advance the state of this science, according to Gilman, who serves on the National Research Council's Board on Environmental Studies & Toxicology ...

New R&amp;D head at EPA revamps research

Reform of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research & Development is in full swing. A consolidation of laboratory functions and increased money for basic research are both on schedule for next year, according to Robert J. Huggett, EPA assistant administrator for R&D. In a Nov. 30 speech delivered to members of the American Industrial Health Council, Huggett noted that the Office of Research & Development (ORD) had been without a chief for nearly two years before he took the job at the end of August. And, although the office was functioning, This was very hard on the agency. There are some things that require a political appointee, explains Huggett, formerly a professor of environmental sciences at the College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Va. Huggett's goal is to increase the performance and stature of EPA's laboratories. And meeting this goal requires change. We have to do our business differently in the future, Huggett says. ...

Environmental Protection Agency Sets Blueprint For Revamping R&amp;D Effort

The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research & Development (ORD) is headed for a major shakeup. Long underutilized by the agency and criticized for being overmanaged in recent studies, the office is now up for reauthorization by Congress and for reorganization by EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner. An integral part of strengthening the quality of science at EPA will be the reinvigorating of our research program, Browner told the full House Committee on Science, Space & Technology during a hearing on July 27. Our goal is nothing less than to create the premier environmental science organization in the country. Committee chairman George E. Brown Jr. (D.-Calif.) agrees that it is past time for EPA to upgrade the quality of its science. Regrettably, EPA's ORD has failed to satisfactorily address research and research management issues, some of which were identified when I first became chairman of the environment subcommittee over 18 years ago, Brown says. An ...

Dioxin Bioavailability Research: Future Approaches Pondered

At most scientific meetings, researchers focus on what they know or have just discovered. But at a high-powered meeting on dioxin held last month, the spotlight was on what isn't known and what needs to be found out. The meeting, called the Research Planning Workshop on Bioavailability of Dioxins, took place in Raleigh, N.C., and was organized by the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research & Development (ORD). It brought together some 90 experts in various aspects of dioxin research from industry, academia, and government—the Who's Who of dioxins, in the words of workshop chairman Rizwanul Haque, a senior environmental scientist at ORD. EPA believes that the most rational way to pave the way for accurate hazard assessment of dioxin contamination is to pursue a directed or planned approach to dioxin research. Such an approach is specifically aimed at resolving the uncertainties, and filling in the gaps, in the crucial information that regulators must consider. ...

EPA's beleaguered R&amp;D office hit again

Almost a year after intense criticism of its operations by the National Academy of Sciences and by the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research & Development (ORD) is under fire again. This time, nine members of Congress, led by Rep. Les AuCoin (D.-Ore.), are charging, among other things, that ORD is hiring, promoting, transferring, and firing employees defiance of good management practice, and in some cases, contrary to civil service regulations. Their allegations have been referred to the Civil Service Commission. However, Dr. Wilson K. Talley, head of the office, has categorically denied all allegations in a recent interview with C&EN. The Congressional members all have ORD laboratories in their state or district. In addition to AuCoin, they are Sen. Harrison A. Williams (D.-N.J.), Sen. Clifford P. Case (R.-N.J.), Rep. Phillip Burton (D.-Calif.), Rep. Thomas O'Neill (D.-Mass.), Rep. Robert B. Duncan (D.-Ore.), Rep. Gladys Spellman (D....