Comment Log Display

Thank you for your efforts to integrate a wide range of feedback
from various statewide stakeholders.

Per my oral comment:

One of my suggestions centers around the role that higher education
can play in helping reach many of CARB's goals.  My university is
affiliated with an international partnership program called EPIC-N
(www.epicn.org).  Through EPIC-N, affiliated universities work with
local municipalities to assist then in their sustainability-related
goals.  That is, there are often many projects that municipalities
wish to engage in that have a sustainability focus, and, often, an
air quality focus, but the associated municipality lacks the
necessary expertise or sufficient human resources to engage in the
project.  

By partnering with universities, municipalities can leverage the
expertise, enthusiasm and efforts of university classrooms, guided
both by the expertise of the faculty member and the city staff. 
The university receives some compensation from the municipality to
engage in this effort and the municipality reaps benefits far
beyond its investment in the university.

If CARB were able to support such partnerships through investment
in these programs, it could significantly leverage relevant
research proposals that would benefit multiple municipalities,
their higher-education partners throughout the state, and provide
both practical and relevant research experiences to the current
cohorts of students, some of whom will be seeking future employment
in related fields.

For more information on the national EPIC-N programs, please see
www.epicn.org.  At the site you will see several of the
universities in the state of California that are involved in such
efforts.