Timothy Watkins

Timothy (Tim) Watkins has worked at the US EPA for over 30 years and has recently returned from a long-term detail serving as the Chief Deputy Secretary for the North Carolina Department of the Environmental Quality (DEQ). Prior to his detail with DEQ, Tim served in several senior leadership roles in the EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), including the Director of the Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling, Acting Director of the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA), and Acting National Program Director for the Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) Research Program (ORD).

Tim started his career with the US EPA in 1990 as an economist in the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards in the Office of Air and Radiation. He joined ORD in 2000, as an Assistant Laboratory Director for Air in the National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) before eventually serving as the Deputy Director and Director for NERL. During his time in ORD, Tim has provided leadership for a variety of research topics, including air quality monitoring and modeling, human exposure measurements and modeling, and PFAS methods and measurements. Tim has also led and contributed to the development of several ORD Strategic Research Action Plans (StRAPs) and contributed to Agency level documents, including the PFAS Strategic Roadmap.

Throughout his career at EPA, Tim has focused on building and supporting collaborative relationships within and outside of the Agency including serving on the EPA’s Council on PFAS, as the co-chair of Scientific and Technical Subcommittee under the US-Canada Air Quality Agreement and leading collaborative efforts for EPA contributions to the US Centers for Disease Control’s Environmental Public Health Tracking program. Tim received his M.S. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Rollins College.