Frontiers in Agricultural Research Food, Health, Environment, and Communities (2003) / Chapter Skim
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7. REE Capacity
7. REE Capacity
Pages 146-168
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From page 146... ...
ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY Like any relatively large organization, the REE agencies function within a set of interrelated systems designed to perform a number of tasks in an increasingly volatile, complex, and less controllable environment in and outside USDA. Although the agencies are embedded in a traditional structure, they are subject to new changes, pressures, and interests.
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From page 147... ...
Leadership to provide intellectual guidance and a long-term, coherent vision for REE research, promote intra-agency coordination, broker partnerships outside the REE agencies, and integrate REE's research within the federal research program is lacking. No position in the REE administrative structure has the visibility and prestige of the directors of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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From page 148... ...
A position reporting directly to the secretary would attract a high-stature scientist. A research director could set the strategy for the REE research agenda, broker partnerships outside REE, and galvanize inter-mission-area collaboration.
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From page 149... ...
Such a position could also integrate REE research in the context of the federal agricultural research enterprise. A disadvantage of the position is that it would be far removed from the REE agencies.
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From page 150... ...
Other science-related technical staff such as microbiologists, physicists, and hydrologists were likely to have environmental training but were not immediately identified from workforce titles. Nevertheless, relatively few scientists in the REE agencies appeared to have the broad training required to integrate across levels of ecologic organization and across complex agricultural landscapes since these are rapidly advancing scientific fields and the agencies have
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From page 151... ...
REE CAPACITY TABLE 7-1 REE Professional Employment in Science-Related Occupations, as of June 10, 2001 151 Occupation ARS ERS NASS CSREES Total REE Agricultural engineering 124 0 0 5 129 Agronomy 99 0 0 0 99 Animal science 68 0 0 4 72 Biomedical engineering 2 0 0 0 2 Botany 20 0 0 0 20 Chemical engineering 31 0 0 1 32 Chemistry 436 0 0 1 437 Civil engineering 26 0 0 0 26 Dietetics and nutrition 50 1 0 4 55 Ecology 29 0 0 1 30 Economics 5 297 0 5 307 Electrical engineering 4 0 0 0 4 Electronic engineering 8 0 0 0 8 Entomology 309 0 0 11 320 Environmental engineering 4 0 0 0 4 Fishery biology 6 0 0 0 6 Food technology 62 0 0 1 63 Forestry 1 0 0 1 2 Generalbiological sciences 278 0 0 84 362 General physical sciences 26 0 0 0 26 General engineering 29 0 0 0 29 Genetics 245 0 0 5 250 Geography 1 1 1 0 3 Geology 5 0 0 0 5 Home economics 6 0 0 0 6 Horticulture 64 0 0 0 64 Hydrology 36 0 0 0 36 Industrial hygiene 2 0 0 0 2 Mathematical statistics 4 0 90 0 94 Mathematics 9 0 0 0 9 Mechanical engineering 14 0 0 0 14 Medicine 1 0 0 0 1 Meteorology 5 0 0 0 5 Microbiology 300 0 0 7 307 Materials engineering 5 0 0 0 5 Pharmacology 5 0 0 0 5 Physics 7 0 0 0 7 Physiology 79 0 0 0 79 Plant pathology 166 0 0 4 170 Plant physiology 205 0 0 4 209 Psychology 2 0 0 1 3 Range conservation 35 0 0 0 35 Social science 0 12 0 17 29 Sociology 0 4 0 4 8 Soil science 182 0 0 1 183 Statistics 14 4 475 0 493 Textile technology 8 0 0 0 8 Veterinary medical science 44 0 0 1 45 Wildlife biology 2 0 0 0 2 Zoology 12 0 0 1 13 Total 3,075 319 566 163 4,123 Source: REE Office of Human Resources, 2001.
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From page 152... ...
Those include integrative environmental science, ecology, economics, and sociology; human genetics (including statistical human genetics) and bioinformatics; and human nutrition, public health, and TABLE 7-2 Demographic Composition of REE Technical Staff Race, % Sex, % Agency Asian Black Hispanic White Male Female ARS 7.7 1.4 2.3 88 83 17 CSREES 6.5 8.1 0.8 84 66 34 ERS 8.2 3.8 1.6 86 73 27 NASS 3.4 12 2.9 81 68 32 Source: REE, 2001.
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From page 153... ...
Our interviews with REE human-resources personnel and administrators indicated that recruiting for diversity is particularly challenging for the REE agencies, given the salary disadvantages. Recruitment and retention procedures are changing for scientists at the most senior level, however.
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From page 154... ...
Hiring procedures are a third factor that influences recruitment. Many young scientists completing PhD degrees or in postdoctoral training are not familiar with the hiring procedures of the REE agencies; these procedures are thus not likely to produce a pool of applicants as large as those of academic institutions, the chief competitors for young research scientists.
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From page 156... ...
FINDING: A number of current hiring practices and other government regulations adversely influence the ability of REE to compete for the best scientists. It is encouraging that the REE agencies continue to seek permanent authority to use more-flexible hiring mechanisms, such as the Demonstration Project or cooperative agreements.
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From page 157... ...
Source: ARS, 2002. The committee believes that a strong postdoctoral program is essential for ensuring the continuous flow of new knowledge, skills, interests, and perspectives into the work of the agencies; for creating important links of new talent from the land-grant institutions with the other REE agencies; for stimulating problemoriented research on critical emerging subjects; and for providing a pool of young scientists from which the agencies can identify and recruit the next generation of career scientists.
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From page 158... ...
FINDING: REE has made substantial efforts to build internal capacity by promoting training and professional development through cooperation with institutes of higher education, not-for-profit organizations, and the private sector, although there is little evidence of a strong connection between training and mission goals or core competences. Incentives are a promising mechanism for USDA research scientists to further their training in new subjects in the form of sabbaticals, short-term visits, or collaborative projects with people at land-grant universities or private academic and research institutions.
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From page 159... ...
ARS reported that coloration of ARS laboratories at land-grant universities was an effective mechanism for involving outside expertise in ARS laboratories, CSREES reported that flexible hiring arrangements through Intergovernmental Personnel Act agreements had permitted it to engage 5% of its staff through short- to medium-term assignment, and NASS reported that it offers year-long fellowships to scientists and engages university scientists collaboratively through cooperative agreements. REE's Role in Education: Future Human Capacity REE contributes to building high-quality educational capacity through its support of the research establishment in the land-grant university system.
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From page 160... ...
160 FRONTIERS IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TABLE 7-5 Summary of CSREES-Administered Higher-Education Programs Program Purpose Funding 1890 Institution Competitive program for attracting more students FY 2002, Teaching and from underrepresented groups into food and $9.479 million Research Capacity agricultural sciences, expanding links among Building Grants 1890s universities with other colleges and Program universities and strengthening the teaching and research capacity of the 1890 institutions Food and Agricultural Sciences National Needs Graduate Fellowships Grants Program Competitive-grant program for recruiting FY 2001-2002, predoctoral students $5.6 million Multicultural Scholars Baccalaureate scholarship program for FY 2000-2001, Program underrepresented racial and ethnic groups $1.9978 million National Awards Honors outstanding teachers and strengthens FY 2002, Program for Excellence instructional programs Two $5,000 in College and national and eight University Teaching $2,000 regional in the Food and awards. Agricultural Sciences Higher Education Competitive-grant program in undergraduate FY 2001, Challenge Grants teaching $4.350 million; Program FY2002 $4.058 million Hispanic-Serving Competitive-grant program to strengthen FY 2002, Institutions Education Hispanic-serving institutions $3,340,000 Grants Programs Tribal Colleges Distributes the interest earned by an endowment FY 2002, Endowment Fund to enhance education in agricultural sciences $7.1 million and related fields for Native Americans Tribal Colleges Formula-grant program designed to strengthen $50,000/institution Education Equity higher-education instruction in the food and upon receipt of a Grants Program agricultural sciences in the 1994 land-grant plan of work; institutions FY 2001, $1.5486 million Tribal Colleges Competitive-grant program for research that FY 2002, Research Grants addresses high-priority tribal, national, or $925,000 Program multistate areas continued
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From page 161... ...
There is a clear effort to target underrepresented groups. INFORMATION CAPACITY: REE EFFORTS IN DATA MANAGEMENT, COLLECTION, AND SHARING Information capacity is a critical function in the process of advancing knowledge related to agricultural resources and the application of that knowledge to societal progress.
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From page 162... ...
Data collection is expensive and USDA must set priorities for data collection. Priorities should be set with consideration given to a number of important criteria:
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From page 163... ...
The efficacy and safety of newly discovered food ingredients and dietary supplements and the health implications of related changes in food-consumption patterns will demand information that is not now available. The generation of food-composition data and the assessment of the dietary status of the US population are continuing REE responsibilities that
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From page 164... ...
Therefore, new and creative approaches to data collection and analysis that integrate the unique strengths and complementary expertise of all the REE agencies, land-grant universities, other government agencies, the private sector, nongovernment and voluntary groups, and international organizations must be implemented. Finally, new technologic tools, including geospatial referencing, are enabling the combination of new and existing datasets from different sources to create new knowledge.
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From page 165... ...
FINDING: Maintaining a physical infrastructure that is too large and too expensive will have a major adverse effect on department research unless REE budgets grow substantially or REE is able to gain in efficiency by being permitted to close and consolidate a number of facilities. ARS receives a line item annually for repair and maintenance of facilities (in FY 2002, budget authority for ARS facilities was $192 million; Appendix Table F-8a)
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From page 166... ...
In 1999, a Strategic Planning Task Force on USDA Research Facilities was directed by Congress to review the department's research facilities, issue a 10year strategic plan for USDA on facilities, and make recommendations to ensure that a comprehensive research capacity is maintained (USDA, 1999~. The task force concurred with previous General Accounting Office reports and recommended that closing, renovating, and consolidating some of the federal laboratories could add greatly to the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency' s research.
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From page 167... ...
A need was identified for leadership to provide intellectual guidance and a long-term vision for REE research, and several options for meeting this need were considered. In describing REE human capacity, the chapter analyzed the REE workforce, hiring and recruitment policies, training and opportunities for professional development, and education.
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From page 168... ...
101-509. The Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (FEPCA)
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