Environmental Protection Agency

The Office of the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development is responsible for a national research program in pursuit of technological controls of all forms of pollution. It directly supervises the research activities of the national laboratories of the EPA and gives technical policy direction to those laboratories that support the program responsibilities of the regional offices of the EPA. Close coordination of the various research programs is designed to yield a synthesis of knowledge from the biological, physical, and social sciences that can be interpreted in terms of total human and environmental needs. General functions include management of selected demonstration programs; planning for agency environmental quality monitoring programs, coordination of agency monitoring efforts with those of other federal agencies, the states, and other public bodies; and dissemination of agency research, development, and demonstration results.