Air Pollution Research

This page last reviewed December 2, 2008

Deadline is January 20, 2009!!

Research Concept Solicitation, Fiscal Year 2009-2010

The Air Resources Board is soliciting ideas for the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Annual Research Plan. Successful contributions will become the basis for interagency agreements or competitive proposal solicitations next summer or fall.

Established by the State Legislature in 1971, the Air Resources Board’s (ARB’s) program of research probes causes, effects, and solutions to California’s air pollution problems. This research provides a scientific basis for development of regulations, voluntary programs, and outreach efforts; Board decision-making; and implementation of initiatives to protect the health of California’s people and environment from the effects of air pollution.

ARB is currently soliciting research suggestions in the form of brief conceptual descriptions that address research gaps described in this announcement and support the Board's ongoing regulatory and policy priorities. For further information regarding the Board's research program, please see ARB’s Strategic Plan for Research.

The following web pages describe the general areas of research and identify knowledge gaps that are critical to ARB’s mission. To the extent that they support the Board’s responsibilities, research ideas outside of indicated research interests will also be considered. The general areas of research interest are:

The nature and scope of the proposed research concepts will vary as will the size and duration of each project. While there is no minimum or maximum funding amount that may be suggested for the conduct of the proposed research, project budgets should be comparable to those approved for previous years. For example, the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 Annual Research Plan was approved with a budget of approximately $6.6 million dollars to support 19 projects of two- to three-year duration. Due to resource constraints as well as uncertainty regarding the State’s budget, ARB may not be able to fund all meritorious submissions. Projects that provide co-funding to leverage the State’s limited funds are evaluated more favorably.

Proponents should complete a research concept template (two-page maximum) and submit it to Dr. Susan Fischer by January 20, 2009, see her contact information below. Concepts will be reviewed by ARB staff, representatives from other research organizations, the Board's Research Screening Committee, and the Executive Research Review Committee. A final selection of research concepts will be presented to the Board for approval at its July 2009 meeting. Once approved by the Board, ARB staff will either work with proponents to turn the research concepts into full project proposals or develop competitive solicitations. Please note that submission and selection of an idea does not guarantee a resulting contract for the submitter. Rather, the ARB is required to consider public California universities for expertise to execute these projects. If the universities can not offer appropriate expertise, then a public solicitation is issued or a sole source contract is awarded. A list serve distributes updates on research activities. To subscribe to the list serve, visit http://www.arb.ca.gov/listserv/listserv_ind.php?listname=research.

For more information about Air Pollution Research, contact Dr. Susan Fischer at (916) 324-0627 or sfischer@arb.ca.gov.

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