EPA Emissions Modeling Support

Organization
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Reference Code
EPA-SSP-0023-5
Description

The EPA Environmental Research and Business Support Program has an immediate opening for an EPA Emissions Modeling Support position at the EPA Research Triangle Park facility in Raleigh Durham, 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.

The Office of Research and Development (ORD) mission is to conduct leading-edge research and foster the sound use of science and technology to fulfill EPA’s mission to protect human health and safeguard the natural environment.   This includes the need to improve the scientific basis for decisions on national environmental issues and help EPA achieve its environmental goals. The National Academy of Science (NAS) made several recommendations in their 2003 report, “Air Emissions from Animal Feeding Operations,” on how to improve estimating animal feeding operation (AFO) emissions. One short-term recommendation was for EPA and USDA to initiate and conduct a coordinated research program designed to produce a scientifically sound basis for measuring and estimating AFO air emissions. Another recommendation was that EPA and USDA ultimately use process-based modelling to estimate air emissions from AFOs.

These recommendations resulted in ORD researchers developing methodologies and in some cases, innovative technologies to collect air emissions data at AFOs.  This work was primarily conducted within two branches in the National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division. The selected candidate shall work directly with EPA researchers within these two branches, the Emissions Characterization & Prevention Branch and the Atmospheric Protection Branch.  Researchers within these branches develop instrumentation and methodologies to collect the data necessary to characterize and mitigate air pollution sources.  Many of the methodologies developed within these two branches were applied in the National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS). 

In 2005, EPA entered into a voluntary administrative consent agreement (Air Compliance Agreement) with a large number of AFO owners and operators to address AFO air emissions. This Agreement and the associated National Air Emissions Monitoring Study (NAEMS) addressed some of NAS’s short-term research recommendations. However, it did not address the recommendation to develop a process-based model. The Agreement stated “EPA’s long-term strategy involves additional recommendations from the NAS which entail developing a process-based model that considers the entire animal production process. The data collected in the NAEMS will lay the groundwork for developing these more process related emission estimates. However, as with any large and complex effort, this work must be conducted over a period of years.”

Agreement participants funded the NAEMS and an independent third-party Science Advisor to conduct the field work with EPA oversight. The study measured emissions from representative broiler, egg-layer, swine and dairy AFOs located across the United States. In the Agreement, EPA committed to develop emission estimating methodologies (EEMs) using NAEMS and other relevant data, and the participants agreed to use these methodologies to estimate emissions for purposes of complying with applicable Clean Air Act permitting and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) reporting requirements.

The NAEMS began in June 2007, concluded in early 2010, and all of the NAEMS data was submitted to EPA by August 2010. After the data was organized and analyzed, efforts were initiated to document the findings in a series of reports. In early 2012, the Agency submitted documents containing the draft EEMs for broiler confinement houses and swine and dairy open sources (lagoons and basins) to the Science Advisory Board (SAB) for review. The SAB submitted its final report and recommendations to the Agency in April 2013. EPA reviewed the SAB’s report and believes that the majority of the recommendations can be incorporated into the current statistical approach that was used to develop the first set of draft EEMs.

The development of EEMs, applicable to the majority of the farming practices used across the county needs to be completed to the satisfaction of the SAB and the Agency program offices being impacted by AFO emissions.  The selected candidate shall assist EPA researchers in the development of EEMs that are acceptable to all parties concerned.

The selected candidate shall provide data management and data analysis in support of the SAB recommendations. These support roles are described below:

Area 1: Database Assistance

The NAEMS project was managed by a research team at Purdue University and has accumulated years of data collected from a variety of farming practices.  All of this data is now in the possession of the EPA and will be the focus for the selected candidate and his/her mentor. He/she shall assist EPA technical staff in defining the strengths and weaknesses of this data for modeling purposes. Since the NAEMS research project ended, AFO research has continued at many universities and both the selected candidate and the mentor shall collaborate with other AFO researchers across the country to understand what data has been generated since the NAEMS project ended and acquire data that will assist in the development of EEMs.  This work is being conducted by ORD staff in support of EPA program office required deliverables.  

Area #2: Development of Emission Estimating Methodologies

The selected candidate shall assist the EPA researchers in the development of EEMs for the various farming practices for which data was collected and respond specifically to comments provided by the SAB.  Additional tasks shall include the application of EEMs to farming practices included in the NAEMS project and other practices not included in the NAEMS project.  The EEMs developed are important because these methods will represent the means by which the Agency develops the AFO inventories in the future. 

Location: This job will be located at EPA’s Research Triangle facility in Raleigh-Durham, NC.

Salary: The selected applicant will become a full time temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $20.65 for hours worked.

Hours: Full time

Travel: No travel is required.

Working Conditions:  The selected candidate shall be supervised by a mentor who will provide day-to-day direction, as well as coach, advise and counsel the candidate, and review the candidate’s work. 

Expected Start Date: The position start date is December 2016. The selected applicant will be temporary employees of ORAU working as contractors 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 environmental science, engineering, environmental statistics or 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.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

The applicant shall have:

  • Relevant coursework in 2 or more of the following: environmental studies, physics or chemistry, engineering, statistics,
  • Advanced working knowledge of Excel,
  • Working knowledge of statistical analysis software, such as SAS, JMP, MatLab, R or other relevant software,
  • A working knowledge of relational databases,
  • Strong written, oral and electronic communication skills as evidenced by a writing sample, and
  • Knowledge of AFOs including emissions and farming operations.

How to apply:

  • Submit application and supporting documents by clicking on Apply Now button.
  • Do not contact EPA directly.

For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org.

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).
  • Discipline(s):
    • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences (16 )
    • Engineering (27 )
    • Environmental and Marine Sciences (13 )
    • Life Health and Medical Sciences (45 )
    • Mathematics and Statistics (10 )
    • Physics (16 )
Affirmation

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate with at least a Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, engineering, environmental statistics or 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.

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