Regulatory Design and Energy Market Analysis

Organization
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Reference Code
EPA-OP-NCEE-2016-05
How to Apply

A complete application consists of:

All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.

If you have questions, send an email to EPArpp@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity in your email.

Description

A postgraduate research training opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Policy (OP) National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE) in Washington, DC.

The participant will be involved with NCEE economists and scientists in analyses and research efforts on regulatory design and benefit-cost analysis. The central focus of this research project is analysis of how energy markets respond to environmental regulation and affect the performance of those regulations. Possible avenues for exploration include: investigating new developments in energy markets such as coal, natural gas, and oil that may influence the environmental impacts of those fuels domestically and abroad, using and potentially developing a detailed fuel or electricity market model to analyze key issues and scenarios as they relate to environmental regulation, and potentially linking an energy market model to a computable general equilibrium model (CGE) model to capture economy-wide effects. The participant will engage in new and on-going efforts to improve analysts’ ability to overcome key challenges when analyzing such effects. 

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and EPA.

Qualifications

Applicants should have a master's or doctoral degree in economics or a closely related field such as operations research, engineering, applied mathematics, public policy, or urban and regional planning within five years of the starting date. Students in the dissertation writing stage pursuing a doctoral degree in economics are also eligible to apply. Doctoral students will be required to show proof of enrollment each semester. Experience in conducting and supporting energy market analysis and electricity or energy sector modeling, representing environmental or energy policy in that type of framework, and potentially modifying an electricity or energy model to incorporate additional detail or data will enhance this research training opportunity. 

The appointment is full-time for one year and may be renewed upon recommendation of EPA and contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend. Funding may be made available to reimburse the participant's travel expenses to present the results of his/her research at scientific conferences. No funding will be made available to cover travel costs for pre-appointment visits, relocation costs, tuition and fees, or a participant's health insurance. The participant must show proof of health and medical insurance. The participant does not become an EPA employee.

The mentor for this project is David A. Evans (evans.davida@epa.gov).

Eligibility Requirements
  • Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
  • Degree: Master's Degree or Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 month(s).
  • Discipline(s):
    • Engineering (27 )
    • Mathematics and Statistics (2 )
    • Social and Behavioral Sciences (5 )