Research Opportunity at EPA

Cameron Laird (claird@STARBASE.NEOSOFT.COM)
Tue, 7 Mar 1995 17:10:05 -0600

I came across the announcement below. It occurs to
me that it might interest ANTHRO-L readers.

Cameron Laird http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/home.html
claird@Neosoft.com +1 713 267 7966
claird@litwin.com +1 713 996 8546
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Opportunity for Collaborative Research
on Ecological and Socioeconomic Issues

Ecosystem Management Research in the Pacific Northwest
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Research Laboratory, Corvallis, Oregon

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has initiated a research
program to support the implementation of ecosystem management in the
Pacific Northwest (referred to as the PNW research program). The major
focus of this research program is ecological: to contribute to the
ecological information, analyses, and understanding needed by decision
makers. To be of maximum use, however, this ecological information must
be in a form that integrates well with matching information on social and
economic concerns. Thus, included in the research program is a component
designed to establish better linkages between our ecological research and
relevant social and economic analyses.

Specifically, we are offering opportunities for economists and/or social
scientists to work for a period of one to three years at the EPA
Environmental Research Laboratory in Corvallis, OR (ERL-Corvallis). The
researcher would be required to conduct innovative economic or social
research using ecological information being collected as part of the PNW
research program and that contributes directly to one or more of the case
study assessments being conducted (described in greater detail below).
The exact nature of the economic/social research is open. Interested
researchers should submit brief (2-5 page) pre-proposals, as described
below. The ecological-socioeconomic research would be a joint effort
between EPA senior ecologist(s) at ERL-Corvallis and the successful
applicant. Only proposals for research to be conducted on site at
ERL-Corvallis will be considered.

The mechanism for funding this collaborative research is the National
Research Council (NRC) Resident Research Associateship Program. Both
post-doctoral and senior research associate (e.g., sabbatical) positions
are available. Details on the NRC Associateship Program can be obtained
by writing:

Associateship Programs
National Research Council
2101 Constitution Avenue
Washington, DC 20418

Applications are accepted three times per year: 15 January, 15 April, and
15 August. Review and processing of applications generally requires 3-4
months.

Prior to submitting an application to the NRC, interested researchers
should submit a 2-5 page pre-proposal describing their proposed research
objectives and approach to ERL-Corvallis:

Dr. Joan P. Baker
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
200 SW 35th Street
Corvallis, OR 97333

This pre-proposal will serve as a starting point for discussing potential
collaborative research. From the pre-proposals received, we will select
one or more to fund in 1995-1996.

The PNW research program includes ecological research on a broad range of
topics: regional biodiversity, watershed/ecoregion-scale assessments,
ecological functions of riparian areas, coastal estuaries, extrapolation,
and ecological monitoring designs. Current plans are to conduct
integrated ecological assessments at both the regional and
watershed/ecoregion scales. The regional assessment will cover Washington,
Oregon, and Idaho and deal specifically with biodiversity and technical
analyses to support development of a regional (or statewide) conservation
strategy for biodiversity. Watershed/ecoregion assessments will deal with
priority management and policy issues in two geographic areas: (1) the
Willamette River Basin, Oregon, and (2) the Washington Coastal Ecoregion,
which includes the Quinault, Chehalis, and Willapa watersheds and Willapa
Bay estuary. We are particularly interested in economic or social
research that would tie in directly with one or more of these large-scale
ecological assessments. An important objective of the collaborative
ecological-socioeconomic research would be to develop an assessment
framework and process that integrates ecological, economic, and social
information into a form useful for decision makers.

Further information on planned ecological research and opportunities for
collaborative ecological-socioeconomic research can be obtained by
contacting Dr. Joan P. Baker at the above address, or through telephone
(503/754-4517) or email (joan@mail.cor.epa.gov). After 1 June 1995,
interested researchers should contact Dr. Eric Preston, at the same
address, 503/754-4459, preston@mail.cor.epa.gov.