Sustainable Technology Division Director

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As director of the Sustainable Technology Division, you will:

• Work with an $8 million budget (including salaries) and a staff of 38 principal investigators
• Have access to resources to pursue innovative projects
• Collaborate with the world’s foremost authorities on the science, study, and application of risk management research
• Be the public voice for our Sustainability research
• Investigate emerging environmental problems and the science needed to solve those problems
• Facilitate the implementation of research projects
• Monitor research results
• Plan and lead activities and events

Salary Range: This appointment is offered at a highly competitive, market-based salary: $150,930.00–$200,000.00 USD per year, depending on qualifications, experience, and other factors.

Application Period: Job Announcement coming soon. Watch here for information regarding opening and closing dates!

Position Information: This full-time appointment is renewable after a five-year term.

Duty Location: Cincinnati, Ohio

Who May Be Considered: Applications will be accepted from U.S. citizens and noncitizens, as allowed by appropriations and statute.

Using your valuable experience, you will direct an interdisciplinary research program in system sustainability, enhance coordination of sustainability research within and outside of EPA, and communicate the impact of the research to EPA regulators, the scientific community, and the public.

The Exciting Details

This cutting-edge Sustainability research program includes:

• Science-based metrics
• Decision-support systems for addressing the ecological integrity of the natural and built environment
• Life cycle assessment of environmental, societal, and economic impacts of energy production and use, for example, in the areas of biofuels and nanotechnology products
• Integration of sustainability principles across NRMRL's research focus areas

You will have substantial hands-on involvement and participation in the scientific research of the division. Your key responsibilities will be to:

• Provide leadership in sustainable technology as you head a research program integrated with activities of the respective ORD laboratories or centers, and serve as a spokesperson for that program
• Assess needs, define goals, and develop long- and short-range program plans and projects
• Establish the organizational structure of the division; delegate authority and responsibility
• Allocate dollar and manpower resources within broad budgetary limitations
• Establish the optimal intramural vs. extramural (contract and grant effort) balance
• Review and evaluate progress and performance of these activities, and take independent corrective actions as necessary
• Coordinate division activities with representatives of foreign, state, and municipal governments, and with other federal agencies, industry, academia, and private organizations
• Represent EPA at conferences, in personal discussions, during field visits, and in other cooperative meetings that pertain to assigned program areas

See the full Position Description (PDF) (3 pp, 20 KB)

About the Sustainable Technology Division

We make daily decisions that affect the quality of our own lives, as well as the lives of future generations. These decisions determine how sustainable our future will be. To assist governments, businesses, communities, and individuals in making sustainable choices, our Sustainability research aims to develop an understanding of the earth as a natural system and craft models and tools to support sustainability decision making. Our research program incorporates both core research that advances fundamental understanding of key biological, chemical, and physical processes underlying environmental systems, and problem-driven research that targets specific environmental problems or customer needs.

A combination of forces—unprecedented growth in population, economy, urbanization, and energy use—are imposing new stresses on the earth’s resources and society’s ability to maintain or improve environmental quality. In order to improve environmental protection, human health, and living standards, our generation must move to mitigate or prevent the negative consequences of a growing population and an increasingly global economy. These increasing stresses require new approaches to environmental protection that go beyond end-of-pipe control strategies concerned principally with pollutant emissions. Based on our understanding that environmental problems are rarely contained within a single resource or geographic area, we must develop and implement integrated and systems-based approaches to meet society’s needs today and ensure a more sustainable future.

Our research program is based on the following themes:

• Renewable resource systems
• Nonrenewable resource systems
• Human-built systems and land use
• Economics and human behavior
• Information and decision making

Our principal research strategy:

1. Our research aims first to advance systems understanding—to better comprehend the interconnections, resilience, and vulnerabilities over time of natural systems, industrial systems, the built environment, and human society.
2. Second, our research aims to further develop and enhance decision support tools to assist decision makers.
3. A third key element of our research strategy is to develop and apply new technologies to address inherently benign and less resource-intensive materials, energy sources, processes, and products.
4. Fourth, our research is committed to collaborative decision making. We aim to develop an understanding of motivations for decision making and to craft approaches to collaborative problem solving.
5. Fifth and finally, our research strategy emphasizes the development of metrics and indicators to measure and track progress toward sustainability goals, to send early warning of potential problems to decision makers, and to highlight opportunities for improvement.

The Sustainable Technology Division is organized into four research areas:

Clean Processes – The focus of this area is on green chemistry and green engineering. The objective of the research is to promote environmentally preferable industrial production methods by developing and testing new processes and technologies, such as catalyst design, reactor design, alternative solvents, membrane separations, biomass fermentation, and metal sorption.

Industrial Multimedia – This area focuses on environmental technology verification, mine waste technology, metal finishing pollution prevention, common-sense initiative support, metal forming, fuel cell applications, lead paint abatement, and base-catalyzed dechlorination for contaminated soil remediation.

Sustainable Environments – The objective of this research area is to construct a strategy for sustainable environmental management. Using economics approaches, water resource and land use planning, physical and ecological theory, and technological methods and knowledge, sustainable environmental management can be implemented through computer-based tools, field data, and human experience to reduce risks to human health and the environment.

Systems Analysis – Research activities in this area are focused on life cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment, cost engineering and cost benefit, chemical simulation and measurement, and federal facility pollution prevention.