title: A web-based tool to engage stakeholders in informing research planning for future decisions on emerging materials.
abstract: Prioritizing and assessing risks associated with chemicals, industrial materials, or emerging technologies is a complex problem that benefits from the involvement of multiple stakeholder groups. For example, in the case of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs), scientific uncertainties exist that hamper environmental, health, and safety (EHS) assessments. Therefore, alternative approaches to standard EHS assessment methods have gained increased attention. The objective of this paper is to describe the application of a web-based, interactive decision support tool developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) in a pilot study on ENMs. The piloted tool implements U.S. EPA's comprehensive environmental assessment (CEA) approach to prioritize research gaps. When pursued, such research priorities can result in data that subsequently improve the scientific robustness of risk assessments and inform future risk management decisions. Pilot results suggest that the tool was useful in facilitating multi-stakeholder prioritization of research gaps. Results also provide potential improvements for subsequent applications. The outcomes of future CEAWeb applications with larger stakeholder groups may inform the development of funding opportunities for emerging materials across the scientific community (e.g., National Science Foundation Science to Achieve Results [STAR] grants, National Institutes of Health Requests for Proposals).
authors.affiliation: National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: powers.christina@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Powers
authors.affiliation: RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. Electronic address: kgrieger@rti.org.
authors.forename: Khara D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Grieger
authors.affiliation: Center for the Environmental Implications of NanoTechnology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. Electronic address: chendren@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Christine Ogilvie
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Hendren
authors.affiliation: National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: meacham.connie@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Connie A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Meacham
authors.affiliation: National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: gurevich.gerald@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Gerald
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gurevich
authors.affiliation: National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, USA. Electronic address: lassiter.meredith@epa.gov.
authors.forename: Meredith Gooding
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Lassiter
authors.affiliation: RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. Electronic address: emoney@rti.org.
authors.forename: Eric S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Money
authors.affiliation: RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. Electronic address: jml@rti.org.
authors.forename: Jennifer M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lloyd
authors.affiliation: RTI International, 3040 Cornwallis Rd., Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. Electronic address: steveb@rti.org.
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Beaulieu
mesh_terms: D004781:Environmental Exposure; D058735:Environmental Policy; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D033181:Information Dissemination; D020407:Internet; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States; D014484:United States Environmental Protection Agency
keywords: CEA; CEA spreadsheet tool; CEA web interface; CEAPrioritize; CEAWeb; Comprehensive environmental assessment; ENM; Engineered nanomaterials; E–RRF; HERO; Health and Environment Research Online; MCDA; MWCNTs; Research planning; Risk assessment; Stakeholder engagement; comprehensive environmental assessment; element–risk relevance factor pair; engineered nanomaterials; multi-criteria decision analysis; multiwalled carbon nanotubes