Ready to send share your interest with EPA scientists?

• Submit application and supporting documents by clicking on Apply Now button.
• For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org. Do not contact EPA directly.
• Check out our website at: http://orau.org/epa/

The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Environmental Risk Assessment Support with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Raleigh, 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

EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) is a leader in the science of human health and ecological risk assessment, a process used to determine how pollutants or other stressors may impact human health and the environment. The center occupies a critical position in EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) between researchers in other parts of ORD and outside of EPA who are generating new findings and data and the regulators in EPA’s program and regional offices who must make regulatory, enforcement, and remedial action decisions.

NCEA addresses the needs of stakeholders by preparing technical reports and assessments that integrate and evaluate the most up-to-date research. These products serve as a major component of the scientific foundation supporting EPA's regulations and policies. NCEA also conducts cutting-edge research to develop innovative methods and approaches that help extrapolate between experimental data and real- world scenarios, improve our understanding of uncertainties, and facilitate careful weighing of evidence.

The Environmental Media Assessment Group (EMAG) is primarily responsible for developing the Integrated Science Assessments (ISAs) on the human health and welfare (e.g., ecological, climate, visibility, and materials) effects of the criteria air pollutants including particulate matter, ozone, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and lead as mandated by the Clean Air Act. These highly influential science assessments form the scientific basis for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. NCEA assessments have significant implications for national and international environmental policy development and implementation.

Development of ISAs includes the identification, evaluation, and integration of evidence from the peer- reviewed literature across several scientific disciplines including epidemiology, toxicology, ecology, and exposure and atmospheric science. In developing ISAs, hundreds of thousands of references are identified in literature searches, and after screening and evaluating, more than a thousand references are included in these scientific documents. To effectively manage such a vast body of references, NCEA developed the Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database and has more recently started exploring tools to improve efficiency (e.g., SWIFT-ActiveScreener) and adapt state-of-the-art systematic review methodologies to our assessment process.

What experience and skills will you gain?

As a team member, you will provide technical assistance in a variety tasks involved in development of Integrated Science Assessments. Examples of this include literature screening; data curation, extraction, and visualization; evidence integration; and general support to relevant assessment projects. You will be a member of multidisciplinary team of scientists in the EMAG in NCEA-RTP, including epidemiologists, toxicologists, ecologists, and atmospheric and exposure scientists.

Literature screening

• Reading titles/abstracts and full-text scientific references to determine relevance;
• Utilizing or testing software screening tools (e.g. SWIFT-ActiveScreener, Distiller); and
• Tracking references according to systematic review methodology, typically done through tagging of references in the Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database.

Data curation, extraction, and visualization

• Verifying data to ensure correctness and completeness in assessments;
• Performing data extraction from scientific research articles into specified formats and templates;
• Utilizing existing tools and testing new analysis tools for exploring and visualizing data; and
• Developing summary tables to present key scientific information in a variety of quantitative and qualitative formats.

Software/tool testing and integration

• Exploring tools and their application in assessment work with guidance from NCEA scientists; and
• Assisting in the integration of tools already in use (e.g. SWIFT-ActiveScreener/HERO) and development and testing of new tools where needs are identified.

General project support

• Maintinaing good communication with project teams;
• Documenting methods and approaches for various tools and applications in assessment development; and
• Assisting in logistics and coordination of activities for meetings, briefings, and workshops.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Experience reading and summarizing scientific manuscripts at a high level;
• Experience in technical scientific writing and editing;
• Strong written and oral communication skills;
• Strong organizational skills and experience in successfully handling multiple assignments with competing deadlines;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Experience working well as a part of a team; and
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (i.e., Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook).

Location:  This job will be located EPA’s Raleigh, NC facility.

Salary: Selected applicant will become temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $21.59 for hours worked.

Hours: Full-time

Travel: Occasional overnight travel may be required.

Expected start date: The position is full time and expected to begin April 2020. The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. The initial project is through May 14, 2020, with 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 a field relevant to environmental risk assessment, including but not limited to ecology, toxicology, environmental science, and epidemiology, or in computer or information science or a closely related field of study field 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.

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Bachelor's Degree or Master's Degree received within the last 24 months or anticipated to be received by 5/29/2020 11:59:00 PM.
• Minimum Overall GPA: 2.00
• Discipline(s):
  • Chemistry and Materials Sciences (12 )
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences (16 )
  • Earth and Geosciences (21 )
  • Engineering (27 )
  • Environmental and Marine Sciences (14 )
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (45 )
  • Mathematics and Statistics (10 )
  • Physics (16 )

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate with at least a Bachelor’s degree in a field relevant to environmental risk assessment, including but not limited to ecology, toxicology, environmental science, and epidemiology, or in computer or information science or a closely related field of study field 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.