Project Associate at Energy & Environment Lab at the University of Chicago
Job Title: Project Associate – Energy & Environment Lab (Full-Time, Benefits Eligible)
Location: Chicago, IL
Full-time or Part-time: Full-Time
Status of employee: Staff (Benefits Eligible)
Reporting to: Olga Rostapshova
Expected Start Date: June 2022
About the Unit:
The University of Chicago Urban Labs partners with government and non-governmental organizations to identify and rigorously evaluate the policies and programs with the greatest potential to improve human lives at scale. Urban Labs’ evidence-based approach gives policymakers and practitioners the knowledge they need to effectively achieve the greatest social good per dollar spent.
The University of Chicago Energy & Environment Lab (E&E Lab) partners with agencies at the federal, state and local level to identify, rigorously evaluate, and help scale programs and policies that reduce pollution and improve environmental outcomes, while ensuring access to reliable and affordable energy. The E&E Lab applies rigorous evaluation and modeling methods, including natural and field experiments, randomized controlled trials, behavioral economics, and machine learning, to help policymakers identify and generate evidence on innovative approaches and policy solutions to their most pressing environmental and energy challenges.
The Role:
The University of Chicago Energy & Environment Lab is seeking a Project Associate (PA) with strong research, methodological, and programming skills to support environmental policy research projects. The PA will work on a portfolio of projects designed to evaluate the impact of promising energy and environmental interventions. Typical research projects involve the analysis of environmental and energy data, utilizing quasi-experimental and experimental methods to provide government partners with guidance on key policy questions.
The successful candidate will have experience with data management, econometrics, and statistical modeling. The PA will contribute to all aspects of research, including data collection, model development, and implementation. This position requires an individual who is able to work as part of small research teams, and on multiple projects concurrently, while also being self-directed and independent. The position offers the opportunity to work directly with leading policy researchers and faculty at the University of Chicago and other universities, and policymakers in state and local environmental agencies.
Responsibilities:
- Work as part of faculty-led research teams to contribute to development, design and implementation of applied economics research studies.
- Collaboratively lead data collection, study management, subject sampling, randomization, and analysis including cleaning and assembling datasets for analysis; conduct field research as needed.
- Coordinate research activities, assist in preparing human subjects protocols, manage and analyze data across multiple projects.
- Contribute to building traditional statistical models and machine learning algorithms for a variety of research projects.
- Prepare results of analysis for research papers, policy briefs, and memos and presentations targeting both policymakers and academic audiences.
- Help build and maintain strong relationships and effective communication with government agencies, and other research partners and organizations.
- Conduct thorough and critical reviews of relevant literature.
- Support fundraising and reporting efforts, such as helping prepare grant proposals and progress reports to funders.
- Maintain technical and administrative support for a portfolio of research projects.
- Other duties as assigned.
Preferred Qualifications:
Education
- Bachelor's degree in economics, statistics, computer science or other relevant field required.
- Coursework in econometrics and/or mathematical statistics required.
Experience
- A minimum of one year of relevant research experience required. Experience gained in school counts towards requirement.
- Experience working with Stata, R, Python, and/or other programming languages required.
- Experience cleaning and analyzing data required.
- Experience building predictive models preferred.
- Experience working on field experiments / randomized controlled trials preferred.
Preferred Competencies:
- Strong interest in environmental policy required.
- Strong background in applied statistics and econometrics required.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills required.
- Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and meet tight deadlines required.
- Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail required.
- Ability to work both independently, in a self-directed manner, and as a team member required.
Working Conditions:
- This position will perform tasks mostly indoors in an office setting.
- Requires the ability to work independently for periods of eight (8) hours or more.
Required Documents:
- Resume/CV (required).
- Cover Letter (required).
- Writing sample (required).
- All academic transcript (required).