EPA Economic Modeling
To submit your application, scroll to the bottom of this opportunity and click APPLY.
A complete application consists of:
- An application
- Transcripts – Click here for detailed information about acceptable transcripts
- A current resume/CV, including academic history, employment history, relevant experiences, and publication list
- Two educational or professional recommendations. Your application will be considered incomplete, and will not be reviewed until one recommendation is submitted.
All documents must be in English or include an official English translation.
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*Applications may be reviewed on a rolling-basis and this posting could close before the deadline.
EPA Office/Lab and Location: A research training opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Clean Air Programs (OCAP) within the Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation, located at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC, and in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment. EPA works to ensure that: Americans have clean air, land and water; National efforts to reduce environmental risks are based on the best available scientific information; Federal laws protecting human health and the environment are administered and enforced fairly, effectively and as Congress intended; Environmental stewardship is integral to U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy; All parts of society have access to accurate information sufficient to effectively participate in managing human health and environmental risks; Contaminated lands and toxic sites are cleaned up; and chemicals in the marketplace are reviewed for safety.
OCAP develops national policies, regulations, and guidelines for ambient air quality standards and air pollution emissions standards. OCAP implements national and international programs for restoring the stratospheric ozone layer, phasing down hydrofluorocarbons, and meeting international treaty obligations.
A group of about 10 graduate-trained economists and analysts, OCAP’s Economic Modeling Branch (EMB) performs and supports benefit-cost analysis of air pollution programs and other policy analyses under the Clean Air Act and the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act. To perform this, the EMB develops methodology, models, and applied tools for economic analysis and collaborates with other economists within the Agency and at national laboratories.
Research Project: Priority areas for research include the US energy sector, major industrial sectors, and phasing down hydrofluorocarbons. Specific projects may involve:
- Develop and document a set of generic partial equilibrium models that simulate the economic impact of stylized environmental regulations on affected and related industries. The models will be based on economic theory with the aim that model users can implement the models using industry-specific data and regulatory scenarios of interest.
- Contribute to the continued development of an EPA dynamic partial equilibrium model that simulates the impact of stylized environmental regulations on domestic and internation oil and natural gas supply and demand decisions, regulatory costs, and emissions trajectories. An important feature on the supply side of the site-level modeling platform is that it models oil and natural gas well drilling and closure under uncertainty.
- Enhance existing models, tools, and methods for evaluating the economy-wide impacts of air pollution regulation and changes in energy production, such as computable general equilibrium models, power sector capacity expansion models, multi-sector energy system models, and linked models. Potential enhancements include the incorporation of new technologies, improvements to existing technologies (e.g., battery storage), model assessments (e.g., backcasting), and uncertainty analysis.
- Develop datasets and identification strategies to estimate supply, demand, and trade substitution elasticities from using publicly available data to provide behavioral parameters for industrial sector market equilibrium models.
- Incorporation of criteria air pollutant productivity impacts in a forestry and agriculture partial equilibrium model and accompanying scenario development.
The research project will require collaborating with Agency economists on study design and planning, data collection, and economic modeling and analysis.
Learning Objectives: During your ORISE fellowship, you will receive guidance from a mentor and will learn about conducting applied research and analysis within the Agency. You will learn to apply economic theory to environmental problems as well as advance quantitative skills using GAMS and open-source programming packages.
Mentor(s): The mentor for this opportunity is David Bielen (bielen.david@epa.gov). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor.
Anticipated Appointment Start Date: August 1, 2026. All start dates are flexible and vary depending on numerous factors.
Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year and may be renewed three to four additional years upon EPA recommendation and subject to availability of funding.
Level of Participation: The appointment is full time.
Participant Stipend: The participant will receive a monthly stipend commensurate with educational level and experience. The anticipated stipend range is $52,693 - $77,983 annually.
Citizenship Requirements: This opportunity is available to U.S. citizens only.
EPA Security Clearance: Completion of a successful background investigation by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required for an applicant to be on-boarded at EPA.
ORISE Information: This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and EPA. Participants do not become employees of EPA, DOE or the program administrator, and there are no employment-related benefits. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE.
ORISE offers all ORISE EPA graduate students and Postdocs a free 5 year membership to the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA).
The successful applicant(s) will be required to comply with Environmental, Safety and Health (ES&H) requirements of the hosting facility, including but not limited to, COVID-19 requirements (e.g. facial covering, physical distancing, testing, vaccination).
Questions: If you have additional questions about the application process please email ORISE.EPA.Other@orau.org and include the reference code for this opportunity.
The qualified candidate should be currently pursuing or have received a master's or doctoral degree in the one of the relevant fields (e.g. economics, operations research, applied or computational mathematics, or data science). Degree must have been received within the past five years or anticipated to be received by 8/1/2026.
Preferred skills:
- Demonstrated interest and technical skills in energy, environmental, or natural resource economics and policy, including demonstrated skills with quantitative methods in microeconomics, optimization, and econometrics.
- Citizenship: U.S. Citizen Only
- Degree: Master's Degree or Doctoral Degree received within the last 60 months or anticipated to be received by 8/1/2026 12:00:00 AM.
- Discipline(s):
- Veteran Status: Veterans Preference, degree received within the last 120 month(s).
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