Research Associate – Emerging Contaminants
The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full-time contractor position; Research Associate – Emerging Contaminants with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.
Salary: $22.91 per hour.
Travel: Occasional overnight travel may be required.
Required Skills:
- Working knowledge of physicochemical separation by liquid chromatography;
- Working knowledge of bench-scale wet chemistry techniques;
- Prior experience working with environmental and/or biological samples;
- Sample preparation and analysis experience;
- Experience with statistical data-manipulation and interpretation techniques; and
- Strong written, oral, and electronic communication skills.
Desired Skills:
- Experience with computational data analysis (e.g. R, Python)
Qualifications
- Be at least 18 years of age and
- Have earned at least a Bachelor’s degree in the fields of chemistry, analytical chemistry, polymer engineering, biochemistry, computational chemistry/biology, polymer chemistry, environmental chemistry, chemo-informatics or a 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.
What the EPA project is about
The Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling (CEMM) conducts research to advance the Agency’s ability to measure and model contaminants in the environment, including research to provide fundamental methods and models needed to implement environmental statutes. Within CEMM, the Air Methods and Characterization Division (AMCD) develops, evaluates and applies advanced laboratory and field methods to measure, characterize, and analyze concentrations of pollutants in the air and at various emission sources.
As part of their mission, WECD supports EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment by developing and applying methods to measure new chemicals. One group of chemicals, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many other chemicals. PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including in the United States since the 1940s. PFOA and PFOS have been the most extensively produced and studied of these chemicals, but there has been an increase in novel replacement species. Investigation of these and other emerging contaminants is critical to understand the risks posed by chemical exposure.
This is an excellent opportunity for a recent Bachelor’s graduate to collaborate with EPA’s research team. Research experience includes:
- Preparation of standard solvents and solutions
- Maintaining, managing, and organizing laboratory facilities, samples, supplies and reagents
- Assisting in the preparation of analysis summary documents such as manuscripts, presentations, fact sheets, and reports
- Networking and exploring many career paths at EPA.
Interested in this research opportunity? If so, follow the link below to apply. Questions? Email EPANSSC@ORAU.org