Abstract |
As in other organizations, the history of expert systems in the Environmental Protection Agency is very short. Approximately five years ago, the focus of the expert systems activities was to assess the feasibility and utility as environmental decision aids. Last year the Agency approved a five year funding initiative to support development of a number of systems to assist in management and implementation of Superfund activities. Whereas initial systems were limited to a few engineering and technical issues, the scope of todays systems includes legal, regulatory and administrative issues. Notwithstanding this rapid evolution in scope and funding, expert systems are not currently mainstream decision making tools in the Environmental Protection Agency. Many decision makers are either not familiar with expert systems or are skeptical that they can provide meaningful and reliable advice. Since expert systems are so new and have not yet been proved for wide spread application in regulatory environment, their future is uncertain. With this background, the paper will propose one or more scenarios for the future of expert systems in the Environmental Protection Agency. (Copyright (c) 1990 American Chemical Society.) |