Environmental Research Assistant
The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full-time contractor position; Environmental Research Assistant with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Ada, Oklahoma.
Salary: $22.68 per hour.
Travel: Occasional overnight travel may be required.
Required Skills:
- Documented education with at least one course credit in geology or soils and one course laboratory credit in chemistry;
- Physical ability to carry large, heavy, and awkward shaped equipment for data collection, as well as tolerate hot/cold/wet field conditions during sample collection;
- Demonstrated experience collecting, preparing, and analyzing soil and/or water samples;
- Demonstrated experience with general laboratory techniques, such as using pipets, balances, preparation of solutions, etc.;
- Proficiency in oral and written communication in English;
- Advanced experience using Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; and
- Demonstrated organizational skills, including demonstrated ability to handle multiple assignments with competing deadlines.
Desired Skills:
- Demonstrated education and/or experience in either R, Python, MatLab, S12, or similar coding language.
Qualifications
- Be at least 18 years of age and
- Have earned at least a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, physics, chemistry, geochemistry, geoscience, geology, earth science, hydrogeology, hydrology, soil science, or closely related science degree 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 Solutions and Emergency Response (CESER) plans, coordinates and conducts an applied, customer-driven, national research and development program to improve decision making by EPA, federal, state, tribal and local agencies, when faced with challenging environmental problems in the built environment. Within CESER, the Groundwater Characterization & Remediation Division (GCRD) plans, coordinates and conducts basic and applied, customer-driven research program to provide data, models, tools and technologies, training, and strategies to protect and restore groundwater. Additionally, researchers provide technical support to federal and state environmental regulators on issues regarding subsurface contamination, contaminant fluxes to other media (such as surface water and air), and ecosystem restoration.
To support these activities, GCRD laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation for chemical characterization of groundwater and surface water, as well as with numerous field instrumentation for investigation of soil and aquifer materials, groundwater, and surface water. The analytical and field functions of the Division are critical to supporting the research and technical assistance mission of GCRD. This project shall involve analytical support for the analysis of water and aquifer samples to support research to protect groundwater and surface water resources; possible field support for collection of samples; review, organization, and analysis of literature data; spreadsheet and database support for file organization; and additional project support as needed.
This is an excellent opportunity for a recent bachelor’s graduate to collaborate with EPA’s research team. Research experience includes:
- Conduct work in the field and analytical laboratory duties;
- Assist other research teams (i.e., EAR team) with research and/or administrative duties;
- Conduct literature reviews and syntheses; and
- 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