NEWS

New EPA science adviser to give Nov 19 speech at UNC

By AMY GRAHAM

Carolina Environmental Program

CHAPEL HILL -- Dr. Paul Gilman, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s science adviser, will give a lecture Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. on measuring and describing ecological conditions and human health for the nation, as well as progress within these fields.

The free lecture is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Carolina Environmental Program, in cooperation with North Carolina State University, the Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and the North Carolina Central University Environmental Science Program. The location will be Rosenau Auditorium (133 Rosenau Hall) on the UNC campus.

Gilman was appointed the EPA’s science adviser in May 2002. He works to ensure that the agency draws on the best science to support policy development and decision-making as the EPA fulfills its mission of protecting human health and the environment.

He also is assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development, the scientific and technological arm of the EPA, which conducts research at three national laboratories and two national centers, as well as extramural research through the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant program. STAR, designed to engage the nation’s best university scientists and engineers in environmental research, funds research in numerous environmental science and engineering disciplines through a competitive solicitation process and independent peer review.

Before joining the EPA, Gilman was director of policy planning for Celera Genomics in Rockville, Md. He also worked as executive director of the life sciences and agriculture divisions of the National Research Council of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, the associate director of the Office of Management and Budget for Natural Resources, Energy and Science, and as a staff member for the U.S. Senate.

Dr. Douglas Crawford-Brown, director of the Carolina Environmental Program, said Gilman’s impact on U.S. environmental research has been significant.

"The EPA is faced with a difficult task of developing the base of science needed for policy decisions, while also moving forward with those decisions in a timely way," Crawford-Brown said. "Dr. Gilman stands squarely in the middle of the science and policy communities and has shown an ability to direct scientific research so that it helps in decisions. His position in the EPA will better assure that the science community produces results most needed by decision-makers, and that decision-makers pay better attention to those results."

The Carolina Environmental Program is a multidisciplinary initiative of UNC dedicated to addressing factors that build an environmentally sustainable society. The program offers majors in environmental science and environmental studies within the College of Arts and Sciences; fosters collaborative research on large-scale environmental problems; and provides technical assistance, training and up-to-date information on environmental issues to North Carolina communities.

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(Graham is a senior in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication from Charlotte.)

Note: To request a photo of Gilman, contact Tony Reevy at (919) 966-9927 or tony_reevy@unc.edu.

Carolina Environmental Program contact: Tony Reevy, (919) 966-9927 or tony_reevy@unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu