Fish Population and Landscape Study Associate at EPA

Organization
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Reference Code
EPA-SSP-0014-07R-12-15-16
Description

The EPA Environmental Research and Business Support Program has an immediate opening for a full-time  Fish Population and Landscape Study Associate with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Corvallis, Oregon.

Goals of ORD’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, which this position will support, include the following:

Lead innovative research and predictive modeling efforts that link environmental condition to the health and well-being of people and society by providing and applying models to directly link watershed conditions to fish endpoints that contribute to human wellbeing and social welfare.

Advance research and tools for achieving sustainable and resilient watersheds and water resources by explicitly modeling effects of watershed condition and water quality and fish endpoints and informing watershed actions that will enhance fishery sustainability and fish population resilience, especially in the context of extreme events and climate change.

Translate and communicate integrated environmental and health effects science to impact decisions positively at all levels by sharing tools and communicating model applications with EPA partners, states, and tribes.

The selected candidate shall provide data management and data analysis support to the Air, Climate and Energy (ACE) Climate Refugia project and the Safe and Sustainable Water Resources (SSWR) Watershed Resilience, Recovery Potential and Sustainability task. This work will be a combination of database management, file management, data quality assurance, spatial data analysis, and statistical modeling. He/she will be a member of a multi-disciplinary research team and will be trained to support the development, maintenance, and analysis of fish population and landscape models for addressing watershed resilience, sustainability and climate change needs.

Specific tasks shall include: 

  • Maintaining quality control of entered data (data entered by third party),
  • Compiling water temperature and other data types,
  • Compiling spatial data in geographic information systems,
  • Developing analysis tools for exploring and visualizing spatial patterns of water temperature and other stream network attributes,
  • Developing scripts to provide reports on the data,
  • Developing models that explore statistical relationship between fish responses (both individual and population) and environmental attributes, and
  • Applying existing modeling approaches to examine climate and habitat change scenarios for stream and river fish populations.

Communications related responsibilities will include:

  • Participating as a member of a multi-disciplinary research team, and
  • Documenting code and database development efforts.

The selected candidate may be asked to present work performed as a poster at a scientific conference.

Location: This job will be located at EPA’s facility in Corvallis, Oregon.

Salary: Selected applicants will become temporary employees of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $20.04 for hours worked.

Hours: Full-Time

Working Conditions: The mentor for this position will be a federal EPA employee. This position will primarily involve work in an office setting with the potential for limited (less than 4 days/month) field data. Appropriate field safety and first aid training will be provided as needed.

Travel:  Occasional overnight travel may be required.

Government Vehicles:  Use of government vehicles by the candidate may be required. A valid driver’s license and the ability to pass a DMV check is required in order to drive these vehicles.

Expected Start Date: This position is full-time and expected to begin in January 2017. The selected applicant will be temporary employees of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. The initial contract period is through May 14, 2017. EPA may elect to renew the contract for an additional three 12-month optional periods.

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

Qualifications

Eligible applicants must:

  • Be at least 18 years of age and
  • Have earned at least a Bachelor’s degree in ecology, fisheries and wildlife, zoology, biology, ecological engineering, environmental science, hydrologic science, bioinformatics, computational biology, information science or a closely related 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.

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

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

Successful candidates shall have:

  • Demonstrated education and/or experience in ecology, including experience with fish-habitat or wildlife-habitat relationships,
  • A working knowledge of geographic information systems or GIS certificate, with application to stream networks,
  • R-language programming (or other scripting language) experience, and
  • Strong written, oral and electronic communication skills.

How to apply

  • Submit application and supporting documents by clicking on Apply Now button.
  • For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org. Do not contact EPA directly.
Eligibility Requirements
  • Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, or Doctoral Degree received within the last 24 month(s).
  • Overall GPA: 2.00
  • Discipline(s):
    • Earth and Geosciences (21 )
    • Environmental and Marine Sciences (14 )
    • Life Health and Medical Sciences (45 )
Affirmation

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate with at least a Bachelor’s degree in ecology, fisheries and wildlife, zoology, biology, ecological engineering, environmental science, hydrologic science, bioinformatics, computational biology, information science or a closely related field from an accredited university or college within the last 24 months; and not a current employee of EPA ORD or the spouse or child of an EPA ORD employee.

ORAU is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability); visit the ORAU website for required employment notices.