Research takes aim at sustainability issues

While the days of developing projects for the Superconducting Supercollider and the Department of Defense have passed, the Houston Advanced Research Center continues to tackle important environmental issues outlined by its founder, George Mitchell, more than 30 years ago.

As it was initially envisioned, HARC served as a central research institute that coordinated leaders from the academic, corporate and government arenas, as well as from 12 universities from Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

"We were created to be a high-tech innovator and to spin off high-tech businesses for Research Forest," said HARC president Jim Lester.

Since then, HARC has re-branded itself. Although still a research institution, it is one that uses science to help people and nature flourish, Lester said.

"We are different from universities in that our research is not the kind of basic work that you would see in a university lab," he said. "Our work is applied research driven by the need of some kind of public policy decision or technology deficiency."

For example, HARC is looking to develop technologies that reduce the impact of oil and gas exploration, reduce emissions from diesel engines, and improve air quality in the Houston and Dallas regions.

In a recent project, HARC researchers realized data regarding ozone studies was not complete or was inadequate. Through its research of emissions, traffic studies and even airplanes, HARC noticed types of emissions that were not noticed before.

"We sort of re-wrote the book on what is driving the ozone problem in Houston," Lester said. "So it's up to [lawmakers] where they want to go with public policy. We just filled in a lot of the scientific gaps."

Today, HARC has a staff of about 35 employees and takes pride in its role as an independent researcher. The organization survives on grants and contracts from government agencies, but it insists its findings remain neutral and not influenced by those providing HARC money to conduct research.

"We are a nonprofit for the public good—a transparent research organization," Lester said.

Although the organization has downsized over the years, Lester and his team are still committed to the challenge Mitchell posed years ago.

"If you can't make the world work with six billion people, how are you going to make it work with nine billion people?" Lester said.

HARC, 4800 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands, 281-367-1348, www.harc.edu