2012-3005. Request for Nominations of Experts for EPA Science Advisory Board Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards Committee

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is requesting nominations of experts to be considered for service on an SAB Committee to make recommendations on EPA's Scientific and Technological Achievement Awards (STAA) for 2012-2015.

DATES:

Nominations should be submitted by March 1, 2012 per the instructions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Any member of the public wishing further information regarding this Notice and Request for Nominations may contact Mr. Edward Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer (DFO), SAB Staff Office, by telephone/voice mail at [phone]; by fax at [phone] or via email at [e-mail]. General information concerning the EPA SAB can be found at the EPA SAB Web site at http://www.epa.gov/​sab.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The SAB (42 U.S.C. 4365) is a chartered Federal Advisory Committee that provides independent scientific and technical peer review, advice, consultation, 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 SAB will comply with the provisions of FACA and all appropriate SAB Staff Office procedural policies. EPA's STAA was established 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 EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). Each year the SAB has been asked to review EPA's STAA nominations and make recommendations to the Administrator for monetary awards. The SAB Staff Office is announcing the formation of a new STAA Committee that will serve for the next three years.

Request for Nominations: The SAB Staff Office is soliciting nominations of nationally and internationally recognized scientists and engineers with a multidisciplinary background in the areas of: Ecological research; energy and the environment; environmental control systems and technology; environmental monitoring and measurement methods; environmental policy and decision-making studies; environmental risk management and restoration; environmental sustainability and innovation; environmental transport and fate; human health effects research and human health risk assessment; homeland security; industry and the environment; integrated environmental risk assessment and other environmental research.

Process and Deadline for Submitting Nominations: Any interested person or organization may nominate qualified individuals in the areas of expertise described above. Nominations should be submitted in electronic format (preferred over hard copy) following the instructions for “Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels and Ad Hoc Committees Being Formed,” http://www.epa.gov/​sabprovided on the SAB Web site. If you wish to nominate yourself or another expert, please follow the instructions that can be accessed through the “Nomination of Experts” link on the blue navigational bar at the SAB Web site http://www.epa.gov/​sab. To receive full consideration, nominations should include all of 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 vita, 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. The bio-sketches and resume or curriculum vita of nominees identified by respondents to this Federal Register notice, and additional experts identified by the SAB Staff, will be made available to the public upon request.

Persons having questions about the nomination procedures, or who are unable to submit nominations through the SAB Web site, should contact Mr. Edward Hanlon, DFO, as indicated above in this notice. Nominations should be submitted in time to arrive no later than March 1, 2012. 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 bio-sketches 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 this List of Candidates will be accepted for 21 days. The public will be requested to provide relevant information or other documentation on nominees that the SAB Staff Office should consider in evaluating candidates.

For the EPA SAB Staff Office a review panel 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. In forming this expert panel, 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 panel 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 lack of impartiality; (e) skills working in committees, subcommittees and advisory panels; and, (f) for the Panel as a whole, diversity of expertise and viewpoints.

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 includes membership on an EPA federal advisory committee) and private interests and activities, or the appearance of a lack of impartiality, as defined by federal regulation. The form may be viewed and downloaded from the following URL address http://www.epa.gov/​sab/​pdf/​epaform3110-48.pdf.

The approved policy under which the EPA SAB Office selects 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://www.epa.gov/​sab/​pdf/​ec02010.pdf.

Dated: January 30, 2012.

Thomas Brennan,

Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board Staff Office.