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The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Public Health Data Support position with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Chapel Hill, 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.

What the EPA project is about

The Public Health and Integrated Toxicology Division (PHITD) within the Office of Research and Development (ORD) at EPA focuses on the adverse public health impacts of environmental exposures. The Clinical Research Branch (CRB) of the PHITD operate laboratories and clinical facilities at the EPA Human Studies Facility building (HSF) and utilize clinical data from large cohorts to study the effects of exposure to ambient pollution on human health and to elucidate biological and exposure mechanisms and the most responsive subgroups of the population.  CRB is located on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Studies are conducted in close consultation with client offices in order to support the Agency’s mission. 

What experience and skills will you gain?

As a team member you will work in the CRB with CRB researchers to construct a database of health records and exposure data and analyze the data in epidemiological and clinical studies. You will work within a multi-disciplinary research team and will support efforts to implement and evaluate the relationship between variations in cause-specific morbidity and variations in air quality and risk factors. 

You will be assisting a research team with analytical, data management and documentation, and communication responsibilities required to support and maintain a robust research program. 

The work to be performed is in the Clinical Research Branch (CRB) of the Environmental Public Health and Integrated Toxicology Division (EPHITD).  You will be assisting a researcher in the Clinical Research Branch with analytical, data management and documentation, and communication responsibilities required to support and maintain a robust research program. You will be working within a multi-disciplinary research team and will support efforts to implement and evaluate the relationship between variations in cause-specific morbidity and variations in air quality and risk factors. 

You will be working side by side with postdoctoral researchers, Principal Investigators, and research personnel who specialize in research of health impacts from environmental exposures. Through these interactions the student shall be exposed to the philosophical and functional questions which arise when handling volumes of patient records and will received premier instruction in analytic and ethical concerns which must be properly considered for the success of projects centered around electronic medical records. Additionally, you will be expected to attend regular staff meetings.

How you will apply your skills

Analytical responsibilities

• Conducting exploratory analyses, developing summary tables and graphical displays of data and analytical results;
• Implementing statistical models to assess association between air pollutants and health outcomes;
• Developing geospatial datasets of environmental exposures;
• Assisting with the preparation of written documents, including documentation of software, data handling procedures, and statistical summaries of analytic results; and
• Developing pipelines to improve automation and standardization of data extraction, aggregation, exploration, and analysis.

Data Management and Documentation responsibilities

• Extracting, cleaning, linking, merging, documenting and managing databases containing both environmental and health data;
• Maintaining records of meetings, correspondence, and action documents, and maintain a system to track projects in progress; and
• Preparing detailed documentation of their efforts.

Communications-related responsibilities

• Participating as a member of a multi-disciplinary research team;
• Interacting with EPA scientists and outside collaborators;
• Assisting in the logistics and coordination activities for briefings, meetings, workshops, and other collaborative efforts;
• Preparing detailed documentation of their efforts; and
• Preparing scientific manuscripts on their work and present at relevant scientific meetings.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Demonstrated education and/or experience in applying statistical methods in analyzing data and ability to manipulate data;
• Demonstrated education and/or experience using geospatial methods, analyses and programming;
• R-language or Python programming (or equivalent open source scripting language) experience; and
• Strong written and oral communication skills.

Location:  This job will be located EPA’s facility in Chapel Hill, NC.

Salary: Selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $29.57 for hours worked.

Hours: Full-time

Travel: Occasional overnight travel may be required.

Expected start date: The position is full time and expected to begin July 2020. The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. The initial project is through May 14, 2021, with up to 4 additional potential optional periods.

For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org. Do not contact EPA directly.

• Be at least 18 years of age and
• Have earned at least a Master’s of Science degree in Computer Science, Data Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Epidemiology, Public Health, Statistics, Social Sciences, Biostatistics, or a 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.

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Master's Degree or Doctoral Degree received within the last 24 months or anticipated to be received by 7/30/2020 11:59:00 PM.
• Minimum Overall GPA: 2.00
• Discipline(s):
  • Chemistry and Materials Sciences (12 )
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences (16 )
  • Earth and Geosciences (5 )
  • Engineering (27 )
  • Environmental and Marine Sciences (14 )
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (45 )
  • Mathematics and Statistics (10 )

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate with at least a Master’s of Science degree in Computer Science, Data Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Epidemiology, Public Health, Statistics, Social Sciences, Biostatistics, or a 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.