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EPA Drinking Water Data Analysis and Policy Evaluation Postgraduate Research Opportunity

*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.

A research opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Water (OW). This appointment will be served with the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW) in the Standards and Risk Management Division (SRMD) located in Washington, DC.

The SRMD is the focal point at EPA for developing national policy in support of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The goal is to protect public health by ensuring safe drinking water through executing the regulatory process for drinking water contaminants. This process includes monitoring the extent of non-regulated contaminants in drinking water systems, establishing new standards for drinking water constituents, reviewing existing drinking water regulations, developing technical information to support drinking water standards and providing technical assistance on drinking water issues. This project will focus on conducting drinking water data analysis and policy evaluation relating to health effects, occurrence, and treatment technologies of drinking water contaminants including microbes, disinfection by-products, as well as emerging contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and cyanotoxins.

Under the guidance of the mentor, the participant will have the opportunity to be involved and trained in the following team activities:
  • Learn how to compile literature and conduct scientific analyses and regulatory policy evaluations
  • Learn how to develop documents/reports/papers on drinking water topics of national significance
  • Participate in and contribute to EPA’s drinking water regulatory development and review process including problem identification, health risk/exposure analysis and assessing risk mitigation approaches

The participant will gain experience in technical writing, risk analysis, communication, strategic planning and project management. The participant will learn aspects of the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA's drinking water regulatory process and develop a deeper understanding of the issues that face drinking water systems; and how to coordinate outreach efforts and to share pertinent information with external stakeholders.

The participant will have the opportunity to be trained with a dynamic, results-driven multi-disciplinary team that includes staff with expertise in microbiology, toxicology, chemistry, engineering, economics, ecology, statistics, health science and drinking water policy.

The annual stipend will be as follows depending on education level: $48,670 (Bachelor's), $59,534 (Master's) and $72,030 (Doctoral).

Qualifications
The qualified candidate should have received a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree in one of the relevant fields, or be currently pursuing one of the degrees and will reach completion by June 1, 2020. Degree must have been received within five years of the appointment start date. 

Preferred skills:
  • Experience analyzing data or policies related to drinking water, health and/or public health, or evaluating chemical and/or microbial contaminants (e.g., per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, DBPs, microbes, Legionella, etc.)
  • Backgrounds in engineering and/or evaluating regulatory policies
  • Good analytical skills for analyzing complex data sets (using R or MS Access) or interpreting regulatory policies
  • Critical thinking skills
  • Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively through presentations, papers, or manuscripts

This opportunity is available to US citizens only.

If you have questions, send an email to EPArpp@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity (EPA-OW-OGWDW-2020-0001) in your email.