Basic Information about Scientific Coordination
The success of EPA's mission depends on a strong and credible foundation of science and technology, and because of this, the Agency constantly strives to advance science, and technological innovation.
The Office of the Science Advisor (OSA) contributes to the Agency's mission through the development of solutions to science and technology policy issues, and in doing so, plays a unique role of coordinating cross-agency intragency consensus building. OSA develops Agencywide products, such as scientific policies, guidance, tools and training to enhance EPA’s ability to meet its mission of protecting human health and the environment.
These products include policies for external expert review of EPA science used in environmental decisions; guidance for assessing risks posed by environmental contaminants; training for scientists to make EPA data available/accessible to the public; tools to effectively and efficiently manage EPA’s laboratories; methods for measuring the concentration of a substance or pollutant; environmental monitoring techniques for measuring or collecting environmental data; and environmental models to help guide research and policies at EPA.