The National Research Council
(NRC) is an
arm of the National Academies of Science and Engineering that exists to
engage the broad community of science and technology to further knowledge
and advise the federal government on important issues.
I served for six years (1983-1989) on the
Marine Board of the NRC . The Marine Board addressed engineering and
scientific issues related to the use of the oceans, including maritime
transportation, defense, ocean engineering, fishing and environmental
protection. In 1999 it became part of the Transportation Research
Board. Under Marine Board auspices, I chaired a study committee that
produced in 1990 the widely cited report Managing Troubled
Waters: The Role of Marine Environmental Monitoring. This
report has had widespread influence on the design, support and use of
environmental monitoring in coastal waters.
I served on the Ocean Studies Board on which I served between 1989 and 1995 and am serving another term between 2007 and 2010. The Ocean Studies Board addresses the conduct and use
of ocean sciences, in the broad sense. While on the OSB I chaired a
committee that produced the report Priorities for Coastal
Ecosystem Science. That 1994 report was prepared in
response to a request by the Committee on Environment and Natural
Resources (CENR) of the President's National Science and Technology
Council to assess the coastal science priorities related to issues
of water quantity and allocation and ecosystem
integrity. I also served as co-chair (with Dr.
Biliana Cicin-Sain) of an OSB committee that
held several regional workshops (California, Gulf of Mexico and Gulf of
Maine) to address the obstacles to the more effective use of science in
coastal environmental policy and management. The committee published
a summary report of its findings, Science, Policy and the
Coast: Improving Decisionmaking.
I also participated in a
multi-part assessment of water resources planning within the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers conducted through the Water Science and
Technology Board. I chaired the panel that produced the report
Adaptive Management
for Water Resource Project Planning and served on the coordinating
committee that produced the overview report U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers Water Resources Planning: A New Opportunity for
Service. Copies of all five NRC reports may be
obtained from the National Academy Press through the hyperlinks associated
with each title. I am also a member (2004-2009) of the
Committee on Independent Scientific Review of Everglades Restoration Progress (CISRERP), under
the Water
Science and Technology Board. This Congressionally mandated
activity will provide a biennial assessment of progress in restoring the
ecosystem, including significant accomplishments and challenges to be met
in the plan’s implementation. Its first report Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The First Biennial Review was released in 2006.
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