Postgraduate Opportunity - Marine Renewable Energy Technology Development

Organization
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Reference Code
EERE-RPP-Water-2015-1500
How to Apply

A complete application consists of:
• An application
• A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
• Official transcripts – Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts

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

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

Description

The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind and Water Power Technologies Office (WWPTO’s) Water Power Program is to research, develop, and test innovative technologies capable of generating renewable, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective electricity from U.S. water resources. These include Marine and Hydrokinetic (MHK) technologies that harness the energy from waves and from tidal, river, and ocean currents. With more than 50 percent of the U.S. population living within 50 miles of the Nation’s coasts, MHK technologies hold significant potential to supply renewable electricity to consumers in coastal load centers, particularly in areas with high costs of electricity. DOE’s MHK portfolio focuses on funding innovation to drive down the cost of electricity through significant performance improvements and reductions in initial investment costs. The Water Power Program is committed to efforts that will allow the MHK sector to rapidly advance and achieve cost-competitiveness with local hurdle rates in major coastal load centers by 2030.

The position is for an integral member of the Marine and Hydrokinetic (MHK) Technologies Team that will carry out activities critical to program execution and management/oversight of projects within the portfolio. MHK is a relatively young industry and DOE plays a significant role in defining the path towards becoming a cost competitive renewable energy solution.  The selectee will collaborate with the team in defining technical priorities, program goals/milestones, and strategy as part of annual, mid (within 5 years), or long (beyond 5 year) term planning.    The MHK RD&D portfolio includes a mix of industry, university, and DOE National Laboratory projects that explore new technologies to improve performance and reduce technical risk.  As part of this risk reduction, the selectee will review technology development project plans; identify shortcomings in project plans for meeting objectives; and evaluate the sufficiency of data collection and analysis methods to prove technology feasibility.

For additional information about Water Technologies Program Marine and Hydrokinetics visit: http://energy.gov/eere/water/marine-and-hydrokinetic-energy-research-development

This position will be located in Washington, DC.

Participant Benefits

Selected candidates will receive a stipend as support for their living and other expenses during this appointment. Stipend rates are determined by DOE EERE officials, and are based on the candidate’s academic and professional background. Candidates may also be eligible to receive a health insurance allowance and reimbursement for travel expenses. Appointments are for one year. Appointments may be extended in increments of up to one year, contingent upon project needs and funding availability. The maximum length of time a participant can spend in the ORISE program is five years from his/her initial start date.

Nature of the Appointment

Participants will not enter into an employee/employer relationship with ORISE, ORAU, the DOE, or any other office or agency. Instead, the participant will be affiliated with ORISE for the administration of the appointment through the ORISE appointment letter and Terms of Appointment.
 

 

Qualifications
  1. Ability to handle complex problems and projects, to summarize diverse technical and administrative aspects of a project, to reach reasonable conclusions as to required actions, to present these issues with proposed actions clearly and concisely for management concurrence.
  2. Ability to develop research and development program requirements, long-term goals and objectives, and schedules for the accomplishment of applied research, development, and demonstration.
  3. Ability to communicate within the organization and externally including effective exchanges with project Principal Investigators (PI’s), and the ability to package information appropriately for the intended audience.
  4. Effective time management, ability to break overwhelming tasks down into tangible elements, multi-task, and meet deadlines.

The exceptional candidate holds expertise in one or more of the following areas:
• Design and test of marine platforms
• Operations in the marine environment
• Systems Engineering   
• Open water testing
• Controlled conditions testing
• Seakeeping or floating body dynamics
• Fuild Mechanics: potential flow or viscous flow
• Physical oceanography
• Linear and nonlinear wave theory

Eligibility Requirements
  • Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
  • Degree: Master's Degree or Doctoral Degree.
  • Discipline(s):
    • Engineering (12 )
    • Environmental and Marine Sciences (3 )
    • Mathematics and Statistics (1 )
    • Physics (1 )