Post-doctoral Research GIS and Spatial Analysis of Global

Website: http://orise.orau.gov/epa/applicants/immigration.htm

Email: Britta Bierwagen (bierwagen.britta@epa.gov

Additional Info:

A postdoctoral research training opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD), National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA). This appointment will be served with the Global Change Assessment Staff (GCAS) in Arlington, Virginia.

The NCEA GCAS works to build the capacity of federal, state, local and tribal decision-makers to assess and respond to global change impacts on the environment and human health. Research and assessment activities are focused on a number of areas: ambient air quality, ambient water quality, the built environment (including water and wastewater infrastructure), aquatic ecosystems, and human health. The purpose of this project is to apply advanced GIS and other spatial analysis tools to assessments of global change (i.e., climate, land use, biogeochemical changes) impacts, vulnerabilities, and adaptation responses. Assessment endpoints include urban systems, ecosystems, air and water quality, and human health.

Specific research activities may include:

• Utilizing land-use change (e.g., ICLUS) and climate modeling outputs in applications that explore impacts and vulnerabilities of environmental endpoints (e.g., water and air quality, human health, urban systems and ecosystems).
• Developing tools that automate processing, analyzing, and summarizing large spatial and tabular datasets that describe climate, land use, or other environmental changes.
• Applying global change scenarios to assess vulnerabilities of communities and their capacity to increase their resilience using multivariate and spatial statistics.
• Describing methods and results in reports and journal articles.
• Presenting research results at meetings and conferences.
• Analyzing national datasets using spatial statistics and assessing risks for urban systems, ecosystems, air and water quality and human health.

The participant will become familiar with the latest approaches, frameworks and models for understanding and addressing changes in climate, land use, and other global change factors. He/She will learn how to critically evaluate climate and land use model output and to identify both opportunities and limitations when using those data in applied research, and will learn how both detailed modeling and high-level assessment activities are used to accomplish NCEA’s mission. This research training opportunity will provide an exceptional professional development opportunity in a highly collaborative, multidisciplinary environment. The participant will have access to a team of experts collaborating in and across disciplines (geography, ecology, hydrology, health, urban systems) on emerging and high-profile research topics.

Qualifications:

Applicants must have received a doctoral degree in geography, statistics, climatology, ecology, hydrology, public health, urban planning, environmental science or related field within five years of the desired starting date, or have completed all degree requirements prior to the start date. Familiarity with climate or land use change research is helpful.

The program is open to all qualified individuals without regard to race, sex, religion, color, age, physical or mental disability, national origin, or status as a Vietnam era or disabled veteran. U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent resident status is preferred (but a candidate also may hold an appropriate visa status; an H1B visa is not appropriate). Guidelines for non-U.S. citizens may be found at http://orise.orau.gov/epa/applicants/immigration.htm. 

The appointment is full time for one year and may be renewed upon recommendation of EPA and contingent on the availability of funds. The participant will receive a monthly stipend. Funding may be made available to reimburse the participant’s travel expenses to present the results of his/her research at scientific conferences. No funding will be made available to cover travel costs for pre-appointment visits, relocation costs, tuition and fees, or a participant’s health insurance. The participant must show proof of health and medical insurance. The participant does not become an EPA employee.

Technical Questions:

The mentor for this project is Britta Bierwagen (bierwagen.britta@epa.gov).

How to Apply:

An application can be found at http://orise.orau.gov/epa/applicants/application.htm.