The EPA National Student Services Contract has an immediate opening for a full time Eco-Health Literature Review Analyst position with the Office of Research and Development at the EPA facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.

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 Public Health and Environmental Assessment (CPHEA) provides the science needed to understand the complex interrelationship between people and nature in support of assessments and policy to protect human health and ecological integrity. Within CPHEA, the Public Health and Environmental Systems Division (PHESD) focuses on the interrelationships between people and their environment, promotes human health and well-being, and fosters healthy and safe communities.

ORD’s Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) national research program conducts research to help communities make better decisions to sustain a healthy society and environment. SHC provides useful science and tools for decision makers at the federal, regional, state, and community levels to help communities restore and revitalize contaminated sites and recover from and prepare for extreme natural events. The science of ecosystem services is a key component of SHC research efforts, as nature’s benefits to society include buffering natural and man-made hazards and supporting healthful and vibrant places to live, work, and play.

The role of ecosystem services in human health and well-being is a key research area for ORD, which contributes to the national SHC research plan. SHC’s Eco-Health Relationship Browser (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-eco-health-relationship-browser) is a popular and user-friendly tool that summarizes the scientific literature on eco-health linkages; it is under continuous development since its public release in 2014. It is part of SHC’s EnviroAtlas decision and learning platform, a high-visibility research product also under continuous development.

What experience and skills will you gain?

As a team member, you will support the update of the Eco-Health Relationship Browser (Browser) to include the publication years 2016 through 2018. This work shall require locating and reading 150-200 research articles that have previously been identified as meeting broad inclusion criteria for the tool; creating an EndNotes file in the format of previous files for this project and entering descriptive information about each publication as a unique record; revising existing summaries in the Browser tool’s master Excel file to reflect the new material; and creating new information nodes in Excel as needed to incorporate any new health issues identified in the updated literature.

As a team member, you will also support the addition of a new ecosystem field in the Browser to enable the inclusion of “blue spaces,” their ecosystem services, and health issues that have been linked to their provision or degradation. The addition of this new component will require a systematic literature review following the criteria outlined in the foundational Browser publication (Jackson et al. 2013. International Journal of Public Health 58:747-755).

The team member will participate as a member of a multi-disciplinary research team that includes other student contractors and trainees. The team member will be asked to present work performed as a poster at a scientific conference, internal EPA seminar, and/or stakeholder workshop.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

• Demonstrated experience in scientific literature review and synthesis;
• Expertise with Microsoft Excel and EndNotes software; and
• Strong written and oral communication skills.

Location:This job will be located EPA’s facility in Research Triangle Park, NC.

Salary: Selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU and will receive an hourly wage of $32.01 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 May 2024. The selected applicant will become a temporary employee of ORAU working as a contractor to EPA. 

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