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EPA and Department of Energy Sign Agreement to Expand Research and Computing Collaboration

Release Date: 02/18/2004
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02/18/2004 - Increased collaboration on research and computing resources, including the linking of two national supercomputers, will take place under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE). This agreement builds on prior research and computing collaboration between EPA and DOE.

Under this MOU, EPA and DOE will link supercomputers in EPA’s North Carolina facility and DOE’s Sandia National Laboratory. High performance computing allows better and faster runs of environmental models such as the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality model, an important tool for states to meet upcoming deadlines for their air quality attainment plans.

“Linking and leveraging these two great research resources will strengthen the scientific foundation for environmental, energy and public health issues,” EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said. “By bridging the boundaries between our agencies, we both can better serve the public need.”

Secretary Spencer Abraham said, “Today’s agreement allows us to further our collaborative efforts and leverage the expertise of both agencies. I am particularly happy that EPA will benefit from the tremendous store of scientific knowledge and expertise in the Department of Energy's national laboratories.”

Work in computational toxicology, the application of computer-based statistical techniques and molecular genetics that allow chemical testing based on a chemical’s molecular structure and its effects on genes, will also be accelerated by this agreement. Computational toxicology can reduce animal testing and provide better toxicity information for chemicals in a faster manner. EPA will also benefit under the MOU from access to DOE’s Joint Genome Institute. Genomics is a new area of biology, derived from the large-scale DNA sequencing efforts of the human genome, and holds the potential to reveal molecular pieces of the toxicity pathway and improve chemical risk assessments and the evaluation of the health of ecosystems.

To read the MOU, go to: https://www.epa.gov/ord/WebPubs/DOEMOU.pdf . More information on DOE’s scientific programs is available at: http://www.doe.gov .