EPA Fellowship for Mapping and Modeling Air Pollution, Landcover Characteristics, and Flooding Associated with Wood Pellet Plants: North Carolina

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), United States

Updated: about 1 year ago
Location: Chapel Hill, NORTH CAROLINA
Deadline: 09 Jun 2023

Agency
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Location
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Job Category
Internships
Salary
TBD
Last Date to Apply
06/09/2023
Website
https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/EPA-ORD-CPHEA-PHESD-2023-03
Description
*Applications may be reviewed on a rolling-basis and this posting could close before the deadline. Click here for information about the selection process. EPA Office/Lab and Location: A research opportunity is available at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Research and Development (ORD), Center for Public Health Environmental Assessment (CPHEA), Public Health and Environmental Systems Division (PHESD), Epidemiology Branch located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Research Project: This research opportunity aims to assess the environmental and public health impacts of the wood pellet production industry in the southeastern US. The research participant will be part of a team of EPA researchers who will identify locations of wood pellet production facilities and forests that are used to provide wood for the production of wood pellets. Aims include characterizing the impacts of the wood pellet industry on localized air pollution and the impacts of deforestation on flooding and water quality. The geographic scope of this research project is EPA Region 4: Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. This research project may involve linking locations of wood pellet production facilities and wood sourcing areas to publicly available datasets such as weather data, air quality, water quantity and quality, US Census data, landcover data, and other environmental datasets. The research participant may have the opportunity to design and execute models to characterize environmental impacts of the wood pellet production industry. Research activities may include: - Data cleaning and extraction from large datasets - Overlaying environmental, demographic and landcover data onto geographic locations - Modeling weather data with air and water quality impacts near wood pellet plants - Participation in writing manuscripts and presenting at professional conferences. Learning Objectives: - Learning to critically review and synthesize existing literature to understand what is known about environmental impacts of the wood pellet production industry - Gaining experience researching with large-scale geographic data - Gaining experience modeling environmental and cumulative impacts - Learning to critically evaluate and synthesize results from research and communicate those results. Mentor(s): The mentor(s) for this opportunity is Anne Weaver ([email protected]). If you have questions about the nature of the research please contact the mentor(s). Anticipated Appointment Start Date: May 15, 2022. All start dates are flexible and vary depending on numerous factors. Click here for detailed information about start dates. Appointment Length: The appointment will initially be for one year and may be renewed 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. Click here for detailed information about full-time stipends. 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: Please see the FAQ section of our website. After reading, if you have additional questions about the application process please email [email protected] and include the reference code for this opportunity.
Qualifications
The qualified candidate should have received a master's degree in one of the relevant fields (e.g. Geography, Geographic Information Systems, Environmental Science, Environmental Engineering, Public Health, Statistics, Information Science), or be currently pursuing a master's degree to be received before June 30, 2023. Degree must have been received within five years of the anticipated appointment start date. Preferred skills: - Experience conducting quantitative and qualitative geographic analyses using SAS, R, ArcGIS, or QGIS - Experience with large (>100,000 observations) datasets - Experience cleaning, managing, and analyzing environmental data - Knowledge of environmental science, particularly in regards to air and water pollution - Experience of modeling air and water pollution impacts. - Experience with health data preferred but not required - Written and oral communication skills.
Contact Person
[email protected]

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