Where Science and Policy Meet: the Career of an EPA Scientist

In Adventures at the Science-Policy Interface, Dr. Brooke Hemming, Sr. Physical Scientist, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gave the “lecture I wished I’d heard as a graduate student.” Dr. Hemming discussed the role scientists play in public policy, developed through her exemplary work with the interdisciplinary team charged with establishing the scientific foundation for “criteria” air pollutant limits via synthesis of data with emergent understanding of atmospheric science and the acute and long-term impacts of exposure to human health and ecosystems. But she also used the Thursday, March 28, 2019 Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions lecture to outline different science career paths and preparatory opportunities. 

Dr. Hemming first discussed four main career areas for a professional in the sciences: 1) academic research, 2) non-profit research, assessment, and advocacy, 3) government research and/or assessment, and 4) government policy analysis and/or development. On the subject of her career area (government research and/or assessment), she acknowledged that her projects and deadlines are pre-determined for her, and that her work is subject to considerable public scrutiny because she is a public servant.

Dr. Hemming offered the advice that when choosing a career path, ask yourself three things:

1)     What are your talents and skills?

2)     What do you want to be doing on most days of your week?

3)     Own who you are, what you have to offer, and what you need to be happy before you start making major career decisions.

Dr. Hemming advised those interested in environmental policy is to learn the issues of most concern to science advocates, and to take advantage of education-oriented opportunities to work directly with policymakers. 

Dr. Hemming went on to talk about an organization she has previously worked, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and her time as an Environmental Science and Policy Fellow at the organization. Over the course of her time at the AAAS, she visited countries like Mexico and Russia to meet with members of government and local scientists to discuss the state of the climate in those countries.

The next part of Dr. Hemming’s lecture was on the role of the EPA in policy formulation, which includes: 1) responding to Congress and 2) assessing & reporting on the state of the science relevant to environmental policy. She described the role of Congress as having the power to confirm the EPA leadership, set budgets for the EPA, and create new offices within the agency. She gave an example of a report to Congress she had worked on, regarding assessment of black carbon particulate matter.

The National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) is the division of the EPA that primarily handles assessment of the science relevant to environmental policy. As a member of the NCEA staff, Dr. Hemming works to provide the interface between 3 groups employed in the fields of policy and science: 1) researchers in other parts of the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, 2) the larger scientific community who generate new findings and data that inform policy, and 3) the regulators in the EPA’s regional offices (e.g. the Office of Air and Radiation) who use that data to make decisions to protect public health and the environment. She went on to describe the Clean Air Act of 1970, which called for upper limits on ambient concentrations of 6 criteria air pollutants (ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and lead), and its influence on her work. Dr. Hemming’s office publishes its work as Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) that summarize the most policy-relevant science, particularly regarding assessment of risk to human health, and the ISAs are made available to the public online.

Dr. Hemming concluded her lecture by providing a list of important skills that she believes are not usually developed in graduate school, but that are essential for entering the workforce:

1)     humility (being willing to learn from your co-workers)

2)     collaborative problem-solving (as collaboration is required for all “fully-effective solutions”)

3)     self-awareness (knowing your own shortcomings, and how they affect your interactions with co-workers and shareholders)

4)     listening to your shareholders and partners (“listen dynamically”, be engaged, sympathetic)

5)     work-life balancing (realizing that although graduate school doesn’t encourage a balanced life, you need to find a way to set aside time to take care of yourself)

Since 2002, Dr. Brooke Hemming has worked in Air Quality assessment at the Research Triangle Park campus of the US EPA. Her training began at a community college, continued at UC Berkeley and work at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her doctoral research at Stanford University was conducted at the NASA-Ames Research Center and the Molecular Physics Laboratory at SRI International. Her post-doc in atmospheric aerosol thermodynamics was completed at the CA Institute of Technology, and was followed by a fellowship at AAAS.  Since joining the EPA, she has received multiple awards for her work on NAAQS reviews, and a gold medal for her leadership and co-authorship of the assessments that formed the basis of the Carbon Dioxide Endangerment finding that CO₂ is a harmful pollutant. She is the editor of a new book series, Climate and Policy, under the Anthem Press Environmental and Sustainability Initiative, and has served for several years as a technical advisor on the Department of Defense Strategic Environmental Research Program Resource Conservation and Resiliency Technical Committee, and as an advisor on the North Carolina State Climate Change and Society Program Advisory Board. She has also served as a science advisor to Paperhand Puppet Intervention.

Dr. Hemming’s lecture was co-sponsored by ESF’s Department of Chemistry and the ESF Women’s Caucus. For more information about the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Lecture Series, the upcoming (4/25) presentation by Denise Breitberg, Smithsonian Ecological Research Center, please visit: https://www.esf.edu/womenscaucus/speakers.htm.  

As part of the requirements for FOR496/497 Perspectives on Career and Gender, students share responsibility for reporting on presentations in the Women in Scientific and Environmental Professions Speaker Series. The preceding was prepared by Anuli Onwumelu, a MS student in the Forest and Natural Resources Management’s Ecology and Ecosystems program of study.