Multipathway Exposure Modeling Scientist
The EPA Environmental Research and Business Support Program has an immediate opening for a full-time Multipathway Exposure Modeling Scientist position with the EPA facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.
What the EPA project is about
The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducts research to improve the ability of EPA to assess human and ecological exposures to environmental stressors. Many of the stressors of concern are organic and inorganic chemicals that are in consumer products and articles. To improve EPA’s ability to assess the exposure risk for harmful chemicals, NERL is developing and applying software tools and algorithms to simulate environmental fate and transport, understand human activity patterns, evaluate exposure potential, and estimate internal dose.
What you will be doing
As a team member, you will work within a multi-disciplinary research team and will provide technical and research support for the development of computational models of exposure to chemicals via multiple pathways and interpretation of non-targeted or suspect-screening mass spectrometry chemical monitoring data.
Required skills
- Demonstrated successful completion of at least 12 hours of coursework in chemistry and 12 hours of coursework in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics;
- Demonstrated education and/or experience in programming in R and/or Python;
- Demonstrated experience with statistical modeling or machine learning; and
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate with others as part of a team.
How you will apply your skills
- Developing datasets or databases for the rapid parameterization of models of human and ecological exposure to chemicals via multiple pathways (e.g. consumer products, consumer articles, foods, occupations);
- Developing and implementing algorithms in the R language for predicting human exposure to chemicals via multiple pathways;
- Comparing human exposure model predictions to biomonitoring or other data;
- Developing of algorithms for analysis of mass spectrometry data in the context of chemical sources and human exposures. Algorithms may include cluster analyses, machine learning approaches (e.g. random forest algorithms, support vector machine algorithms);
- Providing data analysis of chemoinformatic information for chemical features (e.g., accurate masses) identified in mass spectrometry; and
- Developing machine-learning models in support of exposure analyses.
Communications-related duties shall include:
- Compiling and summarizing data and literature references into organized computer files;
- Participating in team discussions on progress and planned activities;
- Interacting with other members of the development team as well as EPA scientists;
- Visualizing data and modeling results; and
- Communicating results via presentation(s), written reports, and peer-reviewed publications.
Location: This job will be located EPA’s Research Triangle facility in Raleigh-Durham, NC.
Salary: Selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $41.63 for hours worked.
Hours: Full time
Travel: Occasional overnight travel may be required.
Expected start date: The position is full time and expected to begin August 2019. The initial project is through May 14, 2020, with potential optional periods.
Working conditions: You will be supervised by a mentor who will provide day-to-day direction, as well as coach, advise, counsel and review your work. The position will involve work in an administrative setting and is not expected to involve exposure to hazardous elements.
For more information, contact EPAjobs@orau.org.
Check out our website at: orau.org/epa/
Qualifications
- Be at least 18 years of age and
- Have a Doctorate degree in chemical or biomedical engineering, statistics, chemistry, environmental science, or a closely related field of study from an accredited university or college within the last 24 months 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.