UC TSR&TP ADVISORY COMMITTEE SPRING MEETING
Cal/EPA
Headquarters (Joe Serna State Office Building)
1001 I Street,
East & West Training Rooms, Sacramento
Spring 2003
Monday, March 17,
2003
MINUTES
ATTENDING
Syed Ali, State Water Resources Board
Richard Bode, Air Resources Board
Steve Book, Dept. of Health Services
Kean Goh, Dept. of Pesticide Regulation
Thomas Harmon, Associate Director
Jerold Last, Director
Bruce Labelle, Dept. of Toxic Substances Control
Scott MacDonald, UC Office of the President
Marion Miller, Associate Director
Lauren O’Conell, UC Office of the President
Leslie Stewart, League of Women Voters
Lisa Stevenson, Program Manager
Jim Stratton, Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment
Mika Pringle Tolson, Program Technical Coordinator
Bill Vance, California Environmental Protection Agency
Winona Victery, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Kip Wiley, Senate Office of Research
Mandisa Zeigler-Frye, Program Coordinator
NOT ATTENDING
Marc Aarens, UC Office of the President
Richard Clark, Phillips Petroleum Company
Arthur Fong, IBM
Bruce Jennings, CA Senate Assembly
John Knezovich, Associate Director
Charles Lapin, Lapin & Associates
Cathie Magowan, UC Office of the President
Pamela Nieberg, DCN
Jim Stratton brought the meeting to order at 10:18 am and requested that everyone introduce themselves.
The
committee reviewed minutes from the last meeting. Stratton moved to adopt, Wiley seconded. Jerry Last reminded everyone to forward
any changes to the Director’s Office before they are posted on the web next
week.
Next the committee reviewed anticipatory research. Emerging issues discussed by the committee were: computer/technology waste and recycle, regional monitoring of ultra-fine particles, battery and capacitor technology, water reuse, and refinery flare emissions.
How UC can better assist with state, public interest, and private industry needs was the next topic. The new UC Sacramento center was discussed as a great opportunity for students and faculty to discuss and establish policy research. Thomas Harmon mentioned NSF is looking for research on homeland security (e.g. pathogen detection) that could also become good environmental technology. Steve Book spoke on the perception of risk in water reuse and the development of a framework to address issues in contamination and water reuse. Bill Vance shared his work on plausible links between ozone and asthma and other particulate materials that effect children which may lead to a suggestion to lower California’s ozone levels. Stratton talked about Cal EPA’s current RFP for research on particulate exposure on the young and elderly. Winona Victery circulated an US EPA RFP (http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/current/2003_pm_epi.html). Kean Goh expressed the need to have methodology to assess and interpret the traces of pesticide residues detected in the environment and associated toxicity to laboratory species to their ecological impacts.
Last began the Director’s Office report with a reminder that the 16th Annual Research Symposium will be held in Oakland on April 25-26, 2003. The Toxic Mechanisms Lead Campus will have their first review March 20th. In response to budgetary issues, a strategic planning committee made up of Executive Committee members met in January and decided to continue with the program goal of seed funding novel research, so all lead campuses will have a sunset date and will have to re-compete. An interdisciplinary investigator team grant has been created to develop collaborative research that could become a lead campus. Lisa Stevenson requested the committee to forward any recommendations for new members to the Director’s Office. Stratton suggested the Director’s Office send the committee an email describing the desired qualities for the new member(s). Last gave the committee an overview of the program’s succession policy and operation guidelines.
Laureen O'Connell gave the UCOP update. She discussed the possible 10% budget cut, following Governor Davis's budget review in May, that ideally would be targeted at specific programs and not executed across the board. In the interest of streamlining the Multicampus Research Unit (MRU) review process, the Office of Research will ask the Academic Senate to approve the abolishment of the 15 year MRU review in favor of continued reviews every five years, the recruitment of reviewers from outside the UC system, and the elimination of comparative reviews. The process will be streamlined and reviews will now be every 5 years. A database will be unveiled in April that includes information on every UC MRU, Organized Research Unit (ORU), and Research Center. Stratton spoke on the importance of this program and noted the excellent track record for its purpose (seed funding). Scott MacDonald discussed the pending changes to UC's peer review policy and guidelines to ensure the research produced is protected.
The committee broke for lunch at 12:35 pm. The committee reconvened at 1 pm. Gordon Schremp from the California Energy Commission gave a presentation on California’s phaseout of MTBE. Pat Perez, also from the Energy Commission, discussed the study ordered by Governor Davis to examine causes of today’s high gasoline prices; the study will be completed by April 1.
There was no old or new business. The meeting adjourned at 1:49 pm.