The Administrative Core is responsible for defining the mission of the Oregon State University SRP, ensuring the paths to pursue that mission are clearly communicated within and without the SRP, providing our investigators with necessary tools to achieve those goals, developing a long-term vision to meet stakeholder needs and fill in missing gaps in the science required to make the most informed regulatory decisions possible. Our Core continues to be innovative and engaged. Our organization is unique among SRPs in that we employ an Internal Advisory Committee (lAC) of key administrators, established the position of Research Coordinator and formed a partnership with a National Laboratory. The lAC was instrumental in obtaining strong institutional support and the Research Coordinator proved a powerful conduit between projects and cores, acting as a """"""""catalyst"""""""". We were able to """"""""hit the ground running"""""""" as a new SRP due to a long history of the Administrative Core staff in managing multi-disciplinary, multi-investigator extramural programs and institutional Centers. A key component of our success to date has been our engaged External Advisory Committee (EAC), formed two years before we were funded. The EAC was active in our initial proposal, pursuit of our mission over this funding period and developing our vision for this competing renewal. As we move forward our leadership team has sharpened our vision resulting in elimination of 1 project and substantial re-organization of 2 others. Oregon State University officially recognized our group as an institutional Center which enhances our visibility, ensures centralized monetary support and provides for control of a significant portion of indirect funds generated by this grant. This has allowed us to make important investments in our early development years and to rapidly respond to events such as the Deepwater Horizon spill. We now are positioned as leaders in the field of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are not only found at Superfund Sites, but often are the main driver for risk assessment and remediation. We continue to develop new technologies and innovative approaches for studying PAHs. The Administrative Core is poised to not just manager but act as a guide as we pursue our NIEHS-SRP mission.
The Administrative Core is the heart of an SRP;it is also the face. Its actions are critical to how the efforts of the investigators are seen regionally, nationally and even internationally. Responsibilities of the AC go beyond good management but require innovation and long-term vision in order to contribute to filling in knowledge and technology gaps needed by stakeholders to address issues critical to Superfund sites.
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