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EPA’s STAR Grants Program
Presentation for CFARE/NAAEA Preconference
Montreal, CAJuly 26,2003
Will WheelerU.S. EPA, ORD/NCER
STAR Grants
• Science to Achieve Results: grants and fellowships– Open competitions and peer review
• National Center for Environmental Research (NCER)– Part of Office of Research & Development– http://www.epa.gov/ncer/– Announcements:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_list/elists/
EPA Offices Involved• Other offices assist with planning,
solicitations, and reviewing grants• National Center for Environmental
Economics (NCEE)– Part of Office of Policy, Economics, &
Innovation– Coordinate research activities– Home page: http://www.epa.gov/ncee– Announcements list:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/ee/epa/eed.nsf/pages/announce
Other EPA Offices
• Rest of ORD– Four other labs and centers– Coordinate research programs
• Most other offices have some involvement– Clients– Media Offices (Water, Air, Solid Waste,
Pesticides & Toxics)– Chief Financial Officer, Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance, Environmental Information
– Regional Offices
Economics Solicitations
• Request for Applications (RFAs)• Several subject areas per year
– Valuation for Environmental Policy– Market Mechanisms and Incentives– Corporate Environmental Behavior– Other occasional solicitations
• Each subject area runs a few years/takes a break
Decision Sciences
• Component of (former) Decision-Making and Valuation RFA– Joint with National Science Foundation– Topic areas split
• Under review at National Academy of Sciences (due April 2004)
• Will not resume before review
Economics ResearchStrategy
• Will define areas of focus for economics research at EPA
• Interviews with 21 offices• Currently at Science Advisory Board for
peer review• Available at
http://es.epa.gov/ncer/events/news/2003/06_23_03a.html
Strategy—Next Steps
• State of the Science Reports to identify key research gaps
• Plan internal and external research• NCER will produce multi-year plan
for future RFAs– Specific topics within each broad area– Long-term questions– Practical and “pure” research
Strategy Priorites
• Ecological and Health Valuation• Environmental (Compliance)
Behavior and Decision-making• Market Mechanisms and Incentives• Benefits of Environmental
Information Disclosure
Valuation
• Valuation for Environmental Policy RFA (January)
• Merger of two previous solicitations– Decision-Making and Valuation– Valuation of Children’s Health
• Ecological and Human Health both came out high
Valuation Directions
• Human Health Valuation– Morbidity, children’s health, mortality
• Ecological Valuation• Two focus areas
– Widely applicable or transferable values• Use of indicators
– Improving accuracy of benefit transfer
Market Mechanisms and Incentives
• Market Mechanisms and Incentives RFA (planned March, opened July, closes October 22)
• Trading in practice and trading in new contexts
• Apply lessons learned from existing markets to new or redesigned markets
Environmental Behavior
• Corporate Environmental Behavior RFA (planned July, probably October)
• Surprise” of strategy• How entities make process, disposal,
and location decisions• Perceptions of costs• Reactions to interventions (voluntary
and information programs)
Benefits of Information Disclosure
• Proposed new RFA• Examine benefits of information
disclosure rules such as Toxics Release Inventory, Consumer Confidence Reports
Grants Process
• Write solicitation• Announced on NCEE & NCER web
pages and email lists, RESECON• Three levels of review
– (External) Peer Review – (Internal) Programmatic Review – (Internal) NCER Director
Peer Review• Interdisciplinary panel of external
reviewers• Evaluate
– Originality and creativity of proposal– Qualifications of PI(s)– Availability/adequacy of equipment – Responsiveness of proposal– Appropriateness/adequacy of budget
• Five-point scale: “very good” or “excellent” proposals move to relevancy review
Relevancy Review
• Interdisciplinary panel of EPA economists and other scientists
• NCEE, ORD (not NCER), media programs and other offices,Regions participate
• Evaluate relevance to program priorities
NCER Director
• Final decision• Inputs:
– Reviews– Portfolio—research gaps– Priorities (plan, Administrator)– Available budget (how much?)
Tips for Success--General
• Average success rate of 12%-15%– Depends on solicitation and funding
• Fund about half of proposals that pass peer review
• DON’T CRAM– Solicitations are open for 3+ months– Research plan will be on website– Look at previous solicitations and abstracts
of successful proposals
Tips for Success—Process
• Follow instructions (NCER’s Guidance page) and read FAQs– http://es.epa.gov/ncer/guidance/
• Six characteristics of successful proposals– Responsiveness, scale, simplicity,
clarity, knowledge of the subject matter, appropriate expertise
Six Characteristics (1)
• Responsive• Scale
– Budget within maximum– Appropriate scale and complexity
• Simplicity– Focus on approximately one to three
research objectives