The Internal Advisory Committee meets on a monthly basis to discuss various issues related to the Center. These include the activities of the facility cores, pilot project resource allocations, membership in the Center, new research collaborations, and other critical issues related to community outreach and the facility cores. The Internal Advisory Committee considers matters related to recruitment of faculty, office and laboratory space allotment, pilot project awards, major equipment purchases, and the composition of all Center-related committees. The Administrative Core narrative addresses these issues of administration in more detail than is described here. New initiatives and suggestions that originate at the various regional and national Center-related meetings and seminars are discussed at the Internal Advisory Committee meeting for their implementation and application for funding.

The productivity of the Center can be judged in part by analysis of the peer-reviewed funding awarded to its faculty members. The quality of the publications, including the top journals in their field and the inter-disciplinary nature of research, are also used to evaluate the faculty, the research cores, and ultimately, the Center. Special consideration is given to research projects that cross the research core boundaries and that involve collaborations among a number of research cores. In most Medical School basic science departments, translational research or research that crosses traditional boundaries, such as those between a basic scientist and a clinician or epidemiologist are not given high priority in terms of resource allocation. In contrast, it is the diverse mixture of faculty that drives the innovation in our Center. In our Center, interdisciplinary projects are given high priority because we realize that the breadth of our Center affords many opportunities for collaboration across the Center's broad research cores. These translational research efforts can lead to breakthroughs and discoveries in the field of environmental health sciences that are critical to the evolution of this field.