The Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) was established to provide objective and independent counsel to the Office of Research and Development (ORD) on the management and operation of ORD's research programs. The primary functions of BOSC are: (1) to evaluate science and engineering research programs, laboratories, and research-management practices of ORD and recommend actions to improve their quality and/or strengthen their relevance to the mission of the EPA; and (2) to evaluate and provide advice concerning the use of peer review within ORD to sustain and enhance the quality of science in EPA. NCEA serves as the national resource center for the overall process of human health and ecological risk assessments; the integration of hazard, dose-response, and exposure data and models to produce risk characterizations. lso, NCEA occupies a critical position in ORD between (1) the researchers in other ORD components who are generating new findings and data, and (2) the regulators in the EPA program offices and regions who must make regulatory, enforcement, and remedial action decisions.