The Air Quality Assessment Division (AQAD) drives sound air quality management policy,
decision making and accountability assessment through the strategic application of technical
and analytical leadership promoted through open collaboration with other OAQPS divisions, other
OAR offices, ORD, other Federal agencies, State and local agencies, Tribes, and outside groups.
The AQAD leads by promoting multi-pollutant approaches to air quality management through comprehensive
integrated evaluations of multiple sectors, spatial scales, and pollutants, meteorology, climate,
and the implications of interactions among them; and by advancing the state of the art in emissions,
modeling, ambient and source measurements, and data analysis techniques. Division areas of emphasis include:
- Continually improving the assessment of emissions, ambient data, and air quality modeling to enhance the design,
implementation and evaluation of air quality management programs and related control strategies;
- Producing timely and meaningful assessments of pollutant trends and impacts, providing the public with clear and
transparent information that can be effectively used to help them better understand the air quality in their area,
how it can affect their health, and how changes in their activities can reduce emissions and improve air quality;
- Establishing and promoting a framework for accountability by developing and applying methods and definitive data
bases for evaluating air quality management programs to determine progress, need for mid-course corrections and achievement
of environmental goals, including attainment of national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and other air quality benchmarks;
- Creating value-added predictive tools and analyses, improving both the quality of analytical results and the timeliness
of critically-needed information for regulatory and policy decision making;
- Improving the credibility and transparency of our technical assessments by infusing and demonstrating quality
throughout our analytical systems, methods and data; and
- Strengthening the basis for air rules and policies across OAR by leading technical collaboration across OAQPS,
OAR, EPA, and other Federal agencies (e.g., NOAA, NASA and CDC) and promoting multi-pollutant, multi-media solutions to
environmental issues.
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