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The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Bachelor's level Toxicology Data Curator 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) 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 Health and Environmental Effects Assessment Division (HEEAD) develops scientific assessments on human health or environmental risk of chemicals or stressors to inform EPA programs and regions, producing a portfolio of assessment products that serve different programmatic needs.

The Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database provides an easy way to access and influence the scientific literature behind EPA science assessments. The database includes more than 3 million scientific references and data from the peer-reviewed literature used by EPA to develop its regulations for the following: Integrated Science Assessments (ISA) that feed into the NAAQS review, Provisional Peer Reviewed Toxicity Values (PPRTV) that represent human health toxicity values for the Superfund, and the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), a database that supports critical agency policymaking for chemical regulation. These assessments supported by HERO characterize the nature and magnitude of health risks to humans and the ecosystem from pollutants and chemicals in the environment.

What experience and skills will you gain?

As a team member, you will provide data curation, document acquisition, and general project support to the HERO project. The required skills include but are not limited to assisting with file management, data curation, and quality control. You will be a member of a team of librarians and data specialists, and will be trained to support the development and operation of HERO.

How you will apply your skills

Data curation

• Quality control of HERO metadata (entered by third parties and imported directly from bibliographic databases) ensuring consistent quality, formatting andpresentation;

• Resolving duplicated citations into a single HERO record; and

• Verifying data to ensure correctness and completeness.

Document acquisition

• Locating and archiving digital copies of original full-text articles relevant to the assessment, using agency provided resources and in accordance with copyright law; and

• Digitizing and storing relevant hard copy articles in the HERO database.

General project support

• Testing new interfaces and tools for HERO;

• Creating new project pages and hierarchies of organizational tags to meet the needs of the scientists working on each project; and

• Providing basic assistance, training and support to agency and contractor users of HERO.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• A working knowledge of relational databases;

• Strong written, oral and electronic communication skills; and

• The ability to work well as a part of a team.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Experience with ColdFusion, Endnote, SQL, Python, Java or Mongo.

Location:  This job will be located EPA’s facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.

Salary: Selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $22.46 for hours worked.

Hours: Full-time

Expected start date: The position is full time and expected to begin August 2021. The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. The initial project is through May 14, 2022, with up to 3 additional potential optional periods.

For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org. Do not contact EPA directly.

• Be at least 18 years of age and

• Have earned at least a Bachelor’s degree in environmental risk assessment, ecology, toxicology, environmental science, epidemiology, computer or information science, or a closely related field of study from an accredited university or college within the last 24 months and

• Be a citizen of the United States of America or a Legal Permanent Resident.

EPA ORD employees, their spouses, and children are not eligible to participate in this program.

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Bachelor's Degree received within the last 24 month(s).
• Discipline(s):
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences (17 )
  • Earth and Geosciences (21 )
  • Environmental and Marine Sciences (14 )
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (46 )

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate with at least a Bachelor’s degree in environmental risk assessment, ecology, toxicology, environmental science, epidemiology, computer or information science, or a closely related field of study from an accredited university or college within the last 24 months; a citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States of America; and not a current employee of EPA ORD or the spouse or child of an EPA ORD employee.

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