There are many opportunities in applied environmental research and development. In investigating such opportunities, the committee attempted to look into the future; therefore, the report is not an exhaustive scientific report, but rather an attempt to summarize the opinions of experts in several fields. Four areas were investigated by the committee with the assistance of participants in a series of workshops: waste reduction, ecosystem and landscape change, anticipatory research, and long-term chemical toxicity. One fundamental question is whether the EPA and other agencies should fund only research linked specifically to its legislated regulatory objectives or whether it should also anticipate new or emerging, unregulated environmental problems. The committee believes that research is an essential foundation of environmental protection and that scientifically based advisory panels should play a larger and more visible role in fostering improvements in environmental science, such as deveoping high-quality research institutions and advising environmental agencies on ways to link research effectively with policy and management decision making.