[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 15 (Monday, January 25, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4028-4029]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-01349]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9941-57-OA]
Request for Nominations of Candidates for EPA's Science Advisory
Board 2016-2018 Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards
Committee
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science
Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office invites nominations of scientific
experts from a diverse range of disciplines to be considered for
appointment to the SAB's 2016-2018 Scientific and Technological
Achievement Awards (STAA) Committee described in this notice.
DATES: Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than
February 16, 2016.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information about the
SAB's STAA Committee membership appointment process and schedule,
please contact Mr. Edward Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB
Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at (202) 564-2134; by fax at
(202) 565-2098 or via email at [email protected].
General information concerning the EPA SAB can be found at the EPA
SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The SAB (42 U.S.C. 4365) is a chartered Federal
Advisory Committee that provides independent scientific and technical
peer review, advice and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on the
technical basis for EPA actions. As a Federal Advisory Committee, the
SAB conducts business in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee
Act (FACA) (5 U.S.C. App. 2) and related regulations. The STAA
Committee is an ad hoc subcommittee of the SAB that provides advice
through the chartered SAB on recommendations for awards under EPA's
STAA program. The SAB and the 2016-2018 STAA Committee will comply with
the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural
policies.
The EPA established the STAA in 1980 to recognize Agency scientists
and engineers who published their work in the peer-reviewed literature.
The STAA Program is an agency-wide competition to promote and recognize
scientific and technological achievements by EPA employees. The STAA
program is administered and managed by the EPA's Office of Research and
Development (ORD). Each year the SAB has been asked to review the EPA's
STAA nominations and make recommendations to the Administrator for
monetary awards. The SAB Staff Office is seeking nominations of experts
to serve on the SAB 2016-2018 STAA Committee, which operates under the
auspices of the SAB.
Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is seeking
nominations of experts to form the SAB 2016-2018 STAA Committee in the
following disciplines as they relate to human health and the
environment: Air pollution exposure; chemistry and geochemistry;
chemical engineering; civil and environmental engineering; ecology;
environmental economics; groundwater and surface water contaminant fate
and transport; human health effects and risk assessment; hydrology and
hydrogeology; monitoring and measurement methods for air and water;
risk management; transport and fate of contaminants; water quality; and
water and wastewater treatment processes. The SAB Staff Office is
especially interested in scientists and engineers with expertise
described above who have knowledge and experience in air quality;
aquatic and ecological toxicology; chemical safety; climate change;
community environmental health; dosimetry and inhalation toxicology;
drinking water; ecological modeling; ecological risk assessment;
ecosystem services; energy and the environment; epidemiology; green
chemistry; homeland security; human health dosimetry; mechanisms of
toxicity and carcinogenicity; metabolism; statistics; sustainability;
toxicokinetics; toxicology; waste and waste management; and water re-
use.
Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested
person or organization may nominate qualified individuals in the areas
of expertise described above for possible service on the 2016-2018 STAA
Committee identified in this notice. Nominations should be submitted in
electronic format (preferred over hard copy) using the ``Nomination of
Experts'' link at the bottom of the SAB homepage at http://www.epa.gov/sab). To receive full consideration, nominations should include the
information requested below.
EPA's SAB Staff Office requests contact information about the
person making the nomination; contact information about the nominee;
the disciplinary and specific areas of expertise of the nominee; the
nominee's resume or curriculum vitae; sources of recent grant and/or
contract support; and a biographical sketch of the nominee indicating
current position, educational background, research activities, and
recent service on other national advisory committees or national
professional organizations.
Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who
are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should
contact Mr. Edward Hanlon as indicated above in this notice.
Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than
February 16, 2016. EPA values and welcomes diversity. In an effort to
obtain nominations of diverse candidates, EPA encourages nominations of
women and men of all racial and ethnic groups.
The EPA SAB Staff Office will acknowledge receipt of nominations.
The names and biosketches of qualified nominees identified by
respondents to this Federal Register notice, and additional experts
identified by the SAB Staff, will be posted in a List of Candidates on
the SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on the List
of Candidates will be accepted for 21 days. The public will be
requested to provide relevant
[[Page 4029]]
information or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff
Office should consider in evaluating candidates.
For the EPA SAB Staff Office a balanced review committee includes
candidates who possess the necessary domains of knowledge, the relevant
scientific perspectives (which, among other factors, can be influenced
by work history and affiliation), and the collective breadth of
experience to adequately address the charge. The SAB Staff Office will
consider public comments on the List of Candidates, information
provided by the candidates themselves, and background information
independently gathered by the SAB Staff Office. Selection criteria to
be used for committee membership include: (a) Scientific and/or
technical expertise, knowledge, and experience (primary factors); (b)
availability and willingness to serve; (c) absence of financial
conflicts of interest; (d) absence of an appearance of a loss of
impartiality; (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and
advisory committees; and, (f) for the committee as a whole, diversity
of expertise and scientific points of view.
The SAB Staff Office's evaluation of an absence of financial
conflicts of interest will include a review of the ``Confidential
Financial Disclosure Form for Special Government Employees Serving on
Federal Advisory Committees at the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency'' (EPA Form 3110-48). This confidential form allows government
officials to determine whether there is a statutory conflict between a
person's public responsibilities (which include membership on an EPA
federal advisory committee) and private interests and activities, or
the appearance of a loss of impartiality, as defined by federal
regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following
URL address http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/Web/ethics?OpenDocument.
The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects members
for subcommittees and review panels is described in the following
document, Overview of the Panel Formation Process at the Environmental
Protection Agency Science Advisory Board (EPA-SAB-EC-02-010), which is
posted on the SAB Web site at http://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/
sabproduct.nsf/WebFiles/OverviewPanelForm/$File/ec02010.pdf.
Dated: January 13, 2016.
Thomas Brennan,
Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.
[FR Doc. 2016-01349 Filed 1-22-16; 8:45 am]
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