CLIMATE SCIENCE RESEARCH ASSISTANT (LIMITED TERM/TEMPORARY)

The University of Washington (UW) is proud to be one of the nation’s premier educational and research institutions. Our people are the most important asset in our pursuit of achieving excellence in education, research, and community service. Our staff not only enjoys outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.

At the University of Washington, diversity is integral to excellence. We value and honor diverse experiences and perspectives, strive to create welcoming and respectful learning environments, and promote access, opportunity and justice for all.

The School of Environmental and Forest Sciences has an outstanding opportunity open for a Temporary Climate Science Research Assistant.

The Climate Science Research Assistant in Climate Solutions and Carbon Accounting position will contribute to a new project at the University of Washington that will provide essential information about the costs and benefits of a range of carbon saving actions for Washington at both the county and the state scales.

The goal of the project is to provide policy makers, businesses, and the public with the data and tools needed to compare multiple approaches for reducing atmospheric carbon that equitably distribute benefits and costs and reduce environmental injustices at the scale of Washington State. The project will generate spatially explicit estimates of 1) the amount of carbon that could be prevented from entering, or removed from, the atmosphere through each of the potential approaches; 2) the magnitude of ecological and human co-benefits (e.g. biodiversity, human health benefits) and costs associated with each approach; 3) the equitability of both the benefits and the costs of each approach; and 4) the social-economic-political feasibility of implementing each approach. The project will generate an on-line visualization tool that will allow users to compare the impacts of different solutions and build effective solution portfolios for their city, region, or business.

The project team and collaborators will focus on fostering collaboration across voices and perspectives, incorporating climate science, and promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in climate solutions.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The incumbent will conduct literature reviews; organize and lead working groups; and help develop web products. They will work closely with and report to Drs. Phil Levin and Josh Lawler.

RESPONSIBILITIES & SCOPE

• Co-developing a framework for providing diverse audiences with information about the costs and benefits of multiple climate solutions (25%)
• Conducting literature reviews to inform calculations of carbon emissions reductions, costs, and ecological and health co-benefits (25%)
• Convening a series of meetings and workshops (15%)
• Writing, reporting, and presenting; communicating using various tools and methods with a wide variety of audiences (10%)
• Co-developing web-based products (15%)
• Project management (10%)

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Master’s degree in a science, engineering, or policy field such as public policy, political science, anthropology, sociology, or geography and at least 1 year of experience as a Research Technologist, or equivalent. Professional level experience may be substituted, year-for-year, for the formal academic degree.
• General understanding of climate change solutions / carbon reduction strategies
• Ability to understand and build simple models
• Ability to organize groups and lead workshops

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

• Excellent writing and communication skills
• Experience independently designing, managing, and implementing a research project
• Experience working with a large volume of different types of information
• Evidence of successfully collaborating in a multidisciplinary team
• Experience organizing collaborative group work and discussions
• Experience working in the environmental management field or directly applying research to real-world environmental management needs
• Experience in or strong interest in learning about climate solutions in Washington State

SALARY RANGE

$25.82-$28.27/Hour

BENEFITS ELIGIBILITY

Please see: https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/benefits-professional-staff-librarians-academic-staff-2022-V1_a11y.pdf

DURATION

Starts January 2023; Expected to last 12 months. Hours per week are flexible.

Evaluation of applications will begin on January 1st, 2023.

Application Process:

The application process for UW positions may include completion of a variety of online assessments to obtain additional information that will be used in the evaluation process.  These assessments may include Work Authorization, Cover Letter, and/or others.  Any assessments that you need to complete will appear on your screen as soon as you select “Apply to this position”. Once you begin an assessment, it must be completed at that time; if you do not complete the assessment you will be prompted to do so the next time you access your “My Jobs” page. If you select to take it later, it will appear on your "My Jobs" page to take when you are ready. Please note that your application will not be reviewed, and you will not be considered for this position until all required assessments have been completed.