The EPA Environmental Research and Business Support Program has an immediate opening for an EPA Environmental Health Assessment Support Associate with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Arlington, VA.

The National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within the Office of Research and Development (ORD) at EPA is a leader in the science of human health and ecological risk characterization, a process used to determine how pollutants or other stressors may impact human health and the environment. NCEA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) plays an important role in EPA’s mission to protect human health through the development of human health assessments that evaluate health effects that may result from exposure to specific chemicals in the environment. IRIS assessments are not regulations but they provide a critical part of the scientific foundation for decision-making across EPA to protect public health under an array of environmental laws (such as the Clean Air Act; Safe Drinking Water Act; Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act). IRIS assessments provide high quality, publicly available information on the toxicity of chemicals to which the public might be exposed (in drinking water, in air, in soil). IRIS is the top tier source of toxicity information and the primary source of information used by EPA, state and local health agencies, other federal agencies, and international health organizations in environmental health decision-making—decisions that protect against cancer and other diseases. In providing the scientific and technical basis for many activities within EPA, the IRIS Program is essential for protecting public health.

IRIS is seeking an individual, at least 18 years of age who has completed a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Candidates with an undergraduate degree in biology, public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, toxicology, or other closely related disciplines pertinent to the broad scope of human health risk assessment are encouraged to apply. This non-laboratory position is ideal for an individual interested in the application of toxicological, epidemiological and environmental data to support the development of human health assessments. The position will be heavily engaged in EPA’s IRIS Program. This position is expected to begin approximately August 2016.

The selected candidate will assist the IRIS Division with providing the highest quality science-based human health assessments to support the Agency’s regulatory activities. This includes technical, administrative and communication duties.

Administrative responsibilities will include:

• Assisting IRIS Division scientists in special projects such as organizing scientific workshops and public meetings;
• Assisting the IRIS Program in coordinating all aspects of the IRIS process, including scheduling meetings, submitting, collecting, and distributing documents, maintaining a database repository for all documentation, summarizing scientific issues raised by meeting participants, and documenting responses to issues raised at various steps in the review process (including by agency reviewers, interagency reviewers, external peer reviewers, and the public);
• Maintaining records of meetings, correspondence, and action documents, and maintaining a system to track projects in progress;
• Assisting the IRIS Deputy Director with tracking the development of IRIS assessments for the purpose of maintaining schedules and meeting milestones. Selected candidates may be asked to develop tracking tools; and
• Assisting the IRIS Associate Director for Science in activities related to the IRIS Interagency Review process and the peer review of IRIS assessments by the Science Advisory Board (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) standing review panel. This includes development of meeting agendas, scheduling meetings, submitting, collecting, and distributing documents.

Communications-related responsibilities will include:

• Assisting in the logistics and coordination activities for briefings, public meetings, workshops, and other collaborative efforts; and
• Working with the IRIS Associate Director for Science and other IRIS Program management in developing and reviewing programmatic and scientific web language related to the IRIS Program activities that will be posted on the IRIS website.

Technical responsibilities will include:

• Supporting the IRIS Program by following established Quality Assurance procedures and protocols to ensure that all health effects data generated or used by NCEA is scientifically sound and of known and acceptable quality for their intended uses; 
• Assisting the IRIS Associate Director for Science in activities related to the IRIS Interagency Review process including summarizing scientific issues raised by interagency reviewers, categorizing issues and comments in an Access database, and maintaining an email database of scientific issues, responses and meeting participants;
• Reviewing scientific literature on the health effects of chemicals present in the environment and prepare data summaries in support of IRIS human health assessments. This may include identifying characteristics of individual toxicology or epidemiology studies that can influence determination of study quality, assisting with documentation of literature searches and search strategies, conducting library research, performing data entry, developing summary tables that present key information on study design and results from individual epidemiology and toxicology studies, developing tables of comments on draft IRIS assessments and summaries of comments, organizing and formatting scientific information consistent with standard IRIS templates, and generating various graphical presentations for health effects data (including figures generated from Excel spreadsheets or GraphPad); and
• Assisting the IRIS Associate Director for Science in activities related to the peer review of IRIS assessments by the Science Advisory Board (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) standing review panel. This includes participation in the preparation of scientific charge statements that address key issues in IRIS health assessments, assistance in preparation of issue statements for meetings with SAB support staff, and summarizing the resolution of scientific issues discussed in such meetings.

Location: This position will be located at EPA’s facility in Arlington, VA.

Salary: The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $21.80 for hours worked.

Travel: No overnight travel may be required.

Expected Start Date: The position is full-time and expected to begin in August 2016. The selected applicant will be temporary employees of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. The initial contract period is through May 14, 2017. EPA may elect to renew the contract for an additional three 12-month optional periods.

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

Eligible applicants must:

• be at least 18 years of age and
• have earned a recent (within the last 24 months) Bachelor's degree in biology, public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, toxicology, or other closely related disciplines pertinent to the broad scope of human health risk assessment; 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.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education:

• An undergraduate degree in biology, public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, toxicology, or other closely related disciplines pertinent to the broad scope of human health risk assessment are encouraged to apply. A formal degree in one of the disciplines described above is required.

Desired Expertise, Skills, Education, and/or Experience:

It is desirable for candidates to possess

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications (i.e., Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook), and the Internet;
• Experience in administrative support functions (i.e., recordkeeping, filing) and managing records (electronic and hardcopy) or databases;
• Strong communication skills (i.e., written, oral, telephone etiquette, presentation abilities), including effective multi-media technical communications; and
• Excellent proof reading and editing skills.

How to apply:

• Submit application and supporting documents by clicking on Apply Now button.
• For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org. Do not contact EPA directly.

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, or Doctoral Degree received within the last 24 month(s).
• Minimum Overall GPA: 2.00
• Discipline(s):
  • Environmental and Marine Sciences (2 )
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences (45 )

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate (within 24 months) with a Bachelor's degree in biology, public health, biostatistics, epidemiology, toxicology, or other closely related disciplines pertinent to the broad scope of human health risk assessment; a citizen of the United States of America or a Legal Permanent Resident; and not a current employee of EPA ORD or the spouse or child of an EPA ORD employee.