Statistical Programming Support

The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Statistical Programming Support position with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Duluth, MN.

The Office of Research and Development at the EPA supports high-quality research to improve the scientific basis for decisions on national environmental issues and help EPA achieve its environmental goals. Research is conducted in a broad range of environmental areas by scientists in EPA laboratories and at universities across the country.

What the EPA project is about

The Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure (CCTE) supports ORD by providing solutions-driven research to rapidly evaluate the potential human health and environmental risks due to exposures to environmental stressors and ensure the integrity of the freshwater environment and its capacity to support human well-being. CCTE researchers are developing and applying cutting edge innovations in methods to rapidly evaluate chemical toxicity, transport, and exposure to people and environments. Within CCTE, the Scientific Computing & Data Curation Division (SCDCD) develops the knowledge and information architecture necessary for integrating, transforming, and managing large scale data streams related to assessing the risk of chemicals. SCDCD creates and manages online tools and ensures they are compatible with existing chemistry, toxicology, and other experimental data sources.

What experience and skills will you gain?

As a team member, you will support research under multiple national research programs by assisting with statistical programming and model development. The team member will assist with scientific data management and integration, data visualization, identification of appropriate statistical and machine learning methods, data analysis, and/or R package and application development needs for CCTE. The work will involve working with diverse data types (e.g., water quality data, chemical toxicity testing data) from a variety of sources to support multiple research domains in the center. Specific projects may include developing R code and packages to facilitate the integration and availability of Great Lakes data, fitting and evaluating statistical or machine learning models, and/or developing R Shiny applications to enable the use of models for stakeholders.

How you will apply your skills

The duty of the team member will include, but not limited to:

• Provide support for statistical programming – including but not limited to data formatting, data visualization, fitting statistical and machine learning models, and developing R packages and applications;
• Utilize version control software for tracking updates to code for data analyses and packages;
• Manage, manipulate, and assess ecological and/or toxicological data for statistical analyses and incorporation into analysis tools (e.g., R packages) supporting researchers in the center;
• Contribute to documentation/manuscripts to communicate statistical methods, analytical results, and package/application features to stakeholders and researchers; and
• Contribute to the design and implementation of methods for developing best practices for data reporting, model assessment, package management, and similar efforts to increase transparency, reproducibility, and efficiency.

Communication-related responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Contribute to an interdisciplinary team of scientists and developers
• Communicate with research teams on progress, challenges, and questions as directed by the EPA mentor
• Thoroughly document all work as directed by EPA mentor to comply with EPA quality assurance procedures for transparency and reproducibility of work
• Create data visualizations and summaries to communicate results to stakeholders
• Communicate information regarding quantitative methods, analysis updates, and utilization instructions for packages/applications to EPA technical staff and stakeholders via documentation, tutorials, meetings, etc.
• Present work in internal reports/memorandums to be used by EPA technical staff
• May have the opportunity to present work at internal seminars, scientific conferences, and/or contribute to scientific manuscripts.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Domain knowledge of statistical and machine learning modeling techniques;
• Proficiency in the R statistical programming language and associated data analysis tools;
• Proficiency with version control tools (preferably git and GitHub);
• Strong reading comprehension and communication skills to interpret information from a variety of data source types and convey information about data, software tools, statistical methods, etc.; and
• Training or coursework in limnology, ecology, chemistry, and/or toxicology.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Experience querying data from databases and/or Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Located: This job will be located EPA’s facility in Duluth, MN.

Salary: Selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $30.46 for hours worked.

Hours: Full-time.

Travel: Travel related to the position is not anticipated. Travel for training and presentations at national meetings may be possible.

Expected start date: The position is full time and expected to begin August 2023. The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. The contract renews each May through 2025.

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

• Be at least 18 years of age and
• Have earned at least a master’s degree in quantitative ecology, biostatistics, statistics, mathematics, computer science, or a related field, including training or coursework in computer programming 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.

• Citizenship: LPR or U.S. Citizen
• Degree: Master's Degree received within the last 24 month(s).
• Overall GPA: 2.00
• Discipline(s):
  • Business
  • Communications and Graphics Design
  • Computer, Information, and Data Sciences
  • Earth and Geosciences
  • Engineering
  • Environmental and Marine Sciences
  • Life Health and Medical Sciences
  • Mathematics and Statistics
  • Other Non-S&E
  • Other Physical Sciences
  • Other S&E-Related
  • Physics
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences

I certify that I am at least 18 years of age; a recent graduate with at least a master’s degree in quantitative ecology, biostatistics, statistics, mathematics, computer science, or a related field, including training or coursework in computer programming from an accredited university or college within the last 24 months; a citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident of the United States of America; and not a current employee of EPA ORD or the spouse or child of an EPA ORD employee.