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Letter Report
Pages 1-16

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From page 1... ... At the first two meetings, public sessions were held during which the committee heard various perspectives from current and former EPA staff and others on the Title 42 program. The committee also requested information from EPA on hiring mechanisms, employment statistics, workforce analyses, and various aspects of EPA's Title 42 program. Read the entire page →
From page 3... ... The NRC committee commended EPA on the progress made in addressing environmental pollution but noted the increasing complexity of environmental problems and the need to keep abreast of scientific advances in molecular biology, information technology, social sciences, and other fields. That committee stated that strong scientific and technical foundations and recent scientific advances were keys to solving the complex problems facing EPA, and it emphasized the dangers of not keeping pace with scientific developments. Read the entire page →
From page 4... ... positions that allowed EPA to promote scientists and engineers to senior scientific positions equivalent to the Senior Executive Service (SES) positions without supervisory or managerial responsibilities (see Box 1 for further description of ST and SES positions) Read the entire page →
From page 5... ... has been used to hire senior investigators, some health scientist administrators, scientific review administrators, program administrators, program and project officers, division directors, and senior officials in the Office of the Director (NIH 2005) Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... . The committee held three meetings; two meetings included public sessions in which the committee heard from the acting and former ORD assistant administrators, various EPA center and division directors, a union representative of the American Federation of Government Employees, a senior scientist from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences familiar with the NIH Title 42 program, and the chair of EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... will not exceed 5 years in reached their ceiling in the General Service or Senior Executive Service duration, (3) may be terminated before the end of the appointment Prepublication Copy pay scales. Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... . In 2002, the ORD Executive Council, which is made up of its laboratory and center directors, began to identify critical research positions that needed to be filled. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... That aspect is yet another important difference between Title 42 and civil service hiring. It enables the agency to "maintain the necessary flexibility to shape regulatory decisions on emerging environmental issues" (EPA Exec. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... The present committee emphasizes that search committees can help to identify candidates that may be looking but may not notice an advertisement, and they can get the word out to various networks and organizations and to wellqualified people who might be able to identify potential candidates, including those who may not be actively looking to change jobs. However, two of the six non-EPA people hired heard about their positions through an on-line Science advertisement and a third through a Science magazine advertisement. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Web sites: Science, Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Biotechnology, Chemical and Engineering 4 external 5 EPA 24 external News, International Society for Computational Biology, Dnajobs, Bioplanet, Careerbuilder, 2 EPA Craigslist, KDnuggets, USA Jobs Journals: Science, Nature, Bioinformatics, Nucleic Acids Research, Environmental Health Perspectives Prepublication Copy Flyer: Society of Toxicology annual meeting a 2 Science expert (filled -- external) Web sites: Science, Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Biotechnology, Chemical and Engineering 4 external 4 EPA 23 external News, International Society for Computational Biology, Dnajobs, Bioplanet, Careerbuilder, 3 EPA Craigslist, KDnuggets, USA Jobs Journals: Science, Nature, Bioinformatics, Nucleic Acids Research, Environmental Health Perspectives Flyer: Society of Toxicology annual meeting a 3 Science expert (filled -- external) Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... Web sites: Society of Toxicology Job Bank, Science, LinkedIn, Journal of Neuroscience, 4 external 8 EPA 20 external Environmental Health Perspectives, USA Jobs 7 EPA (2 from different 4 EPA EPA laboratory) 20 Division director (in process) Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... The committee strongly emphasizes the importance of expanding the practice of advertising to science professionals in underrepresented groups and structuring search committees in a way that will foster a broad and diverse recruitment. As is the case in creating a diverse faculty at a university, recruitment is the first step, although retention efforts are also needed, and Malcom and colleagues (2004) Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... Rather than having the selection of an appointee made solely by the would-be supervisor, the committee recommends that EPA form a selection committee made up of EPA staff and non-EPA experts. That committee would receive the search committee's or evaluation committee's recommendations and would evaluate candidates on the basis of their qualifications, their fit with ORD's mission, and above all whether they are truly among the world's best in their field. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... As indicated above, comments from search-committee members indicated a consensus that the process has been successful in identifying highly qualified candidates. There is some discomfort with the meaning of world class, but the pool of top candidates and the appointees meet all the traditional benchmarks of excellence and leadership in research, including strong publication records, experience in leading research, and national and international recognition. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... establish a search committee to oversee recruitment, promote diversity in the process, evaluate applicants' credentials, and recommend the most qualified applicants to a selection committee; (2) advertise widely on appropriate Web sites, in appropriate journals, through scientific and engineering societies, and by contacting highly competent people in the relevant disciplines; and (3) Read the entire page →

From page 1...

... At the first two meetings, public sessions were held during which the committee heard various perspectives from current and former EPA staff and others on the Title 42 program. The committee also requested information from EPA on hiring mechanisms, employment statistics, workforce analyses, and various aspects of EPA's Title 42 program.

Letter Report Pages 1-16

Letter Report
Pages 1-16