NCEA Basic Information

The National Center for Environmental Assessment is part of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). The mission of NCEA is to provide guidance about how pollutants may impact human health and the environment. This guidance takes the form of assessments and guidelines which present critical analyses and summaries of scientific consensus on the risks to human health and the environment posed by pollutants and naturally occurring substances. Thus, NCEA occupies a critical position between scientists in ORD and management in EPA's program and regional offices supporting regulatory, enforcement, and remedial-action decisions.

NCEA offices are located in Washington, DC; Cincinnati, OH; and Research Triangle Park, NC. The office of the director and centralized management for NCEA's offices and programs are located in Washington, DC. [Click here to view NCEA's organizational chart.]

NCEA provides leadership in risk assessments through its sponsorship of workshops, participation in international conferences, and by providing access to EPA's models, tools, and databases. NCEA also administers two programs which pull together experts from across EPA to addresses issues of wide-reaching importance: the Global Change Research Program and the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program, who manage the well known IRIS database of toxicological risk assessments and summary reports on a broad range of pollutants.

NCEA's workforce is the strength behind its programs. NCEA employees are highly trained and are recognized internationally for their expertise. NCEA's diverse staff includes biologists, chemists, ecologists, engineers, epidemiologists, geneticists, statisticians, and toxicologists. Many NCEA employees have worked for EPA since its inception in 1970 while others are fresh out of graduate school and bring new expertise and enthusiasm for NCEA's mission. NCEA's products-its guidance documents, criteria documents, risk assessments, models, and databases-are the result of the unwavering dedication of NCEA's employees who see projects through many cycles of expert internal and external review and public comment.

Read more about:

• Using Science to Improve Risk Assessment
• The Risk Assessment Process
• Human Health Risk Assessment Overview
• Ecological Risk Assessment Overview