The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Application and Database Developer position with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.

The Office of Research and Development at the EPA supports high-quality research to improve the scientific basis for decisions on national environmental issues and help EPA achieve its environmental goals. Research is conducted in a broad range of environmental areas by scientists in EPA laboratories and at universities across the country.

What the EPA project is about

The Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) The Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) provides the science needed to understand the complex interrelationship between people and nature in support of assessments and policy to protect human health and ecological integrity.  Within CPHEA, the Public Health Integrated Toxicology Division (PHITD) performs clinical and animal toxicological research to assess the impact of environmental exposures on human health by developing and validating biological measures in all aspects of human health to better link exposure, dose, and health outcomes. This includes evaluating toxicological mechanisms and responses for target organ systems using multiple strategies related to chemical screening and prioritization including assessing in vivo predictive value of in vitro tests and test methods development and interpretation.

What experience and skills will you gain?

As a team member, you will work with other members of ORD’s development teams to create new applications as well as maintain existing code bases. Extensive on-the-job training shall be provided on current databases and the existing code-base. You will be a member of a multi-disciplinary research team and shall be trained to support the development, programming, testing and maintenance of multiple applications requiring access to chemical and biology databases that provides a foundation for all of programs.

How you will apply your skills (Can be removed based on TO)

Application and Database Programming responsibilities:

• Creating new applications and scripts to interact with databases such as Ruby Active Record communicating with a MySQL database.
• Maintaining existing code and scripts that may or may not access databases.
• Creating reusable web components such as Models and Controllers in the Ruby on Rails web development framework.
• Developing automated tests for application code such as Unit Tests for Rails models and Functional Tests for Rails controllers.
• Creating and maintaining web components using the Node.JS web framework.
• Creating and maintaining JavaScript-based web components that utilize asynchronous control flow.
• Participating in Agile (Scrum) software development.
• Participating in team code reviews, maintaining records of meetings, correspondence, and action documents, and maintain a system to track projects in progress.

Communications-related responsibilities:

• Participating as a member of a multi-disciplinary research team.
• Interacting with other members of the development team as well as EPA scientists.
• Documenting code and database development efforts.
• May be asked to present work performed in the course of their EPA student contractor service as a poster or presentation at a scientific conference or other forum.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Coursework in computer programming I and computer programming II (or equivalent) with passing grades;
• Programming proficiency in at least one modern general-purpose programming language such as Perl, Ruby, Python, C++, or Java;
• Coursework or equivalent work experience with the MySQL database platform;
• Strong written, oral and electronic communication skills;
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (i.e., Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook);
• Experience with Linux operating system is preferred, but experience with command line operations in Windows or OSX is acceptable;
• Experience with basic software development practices; and
• Experience with basic database development practice.