Description

Status: Full Time

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest, thus requires that such institutions must be the recipient of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration.

The position is in the Applied Economics Office (AEO), a part of the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at NIST, which provides economic products and services through research and consulting to industry and government agencies in support of productivity enhancement, economic growth, and international competitiveness, with a focus on improving the life-cycle quality and economy of constructed facilities and manufacturing processes that support social and economic functions. The AEO is integrated within EL's major research thrusts: sustainability, energy conservation, community resilience planning, manufacturing, fire, smart grid, building construction, and safety. The AEO delivers high quality research and tool development that informs and assists stakeholders in their decision-making processes.

 AEO is searching for researchers in the field of decision science with experience in one or more of the following disciplines:

• Data analysis
• Community planning
•  Survey methods and design
•  Behavioral science / economics / sociology
• Software design and development
• Supply chain analysis
• Systems / network / simulation modeling

The research associate will collaborate with NIST researchers and NIST's external collaborators on projects related to circular economy with a focus on the plastics recycling ecosystem.

Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, assisting in at least one of the following:

• Development of decision frameworks for community level choices
• Design and execution of data collection instruments
• Statistical analysis of collected survey data
• Assessment of research and data gaps
• Developing decision-support tools for homeowners, communities, industry, and/or government agencies to make more efficient, sustainable, resilient, and/or circular choices
• Draft research slide decks, reports, and/or journal articles

Privacy Act Statement

Authority: 15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose: The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor's degree holders, graduate students, master's degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses: NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices: NIST-1: NIST Associates.

Disclosure: Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.

Requirements

• • PhD in Decision Science, Economics, Behavioral Science, Psychology, Sociology, Engineering, or related fiel
  • Research experience in at least one of the following topics: plastics, recycling, community planning
  • Experience with data analysis software package(s) (e.g., R, Stata, SAS, SPSS, python)
  • Experience in solving complex problems
  • Excellent writing and communication skills

Application Instructions

_{Please include a cover letter and 3 references on 1 page.}