Climate Adaptation in Communities

Zintellect is offering a postdoctoral or postgraduate research opportunity focused on climate adaptation in communities at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, DC. The role involves conducting research to enhance the adaptive capacity of approximately 40,000 local communities, analyzing community needs, and developing case studies on climate change adaptation. The participant will engage with EPA staff, learn about agency processes, and contribute to strategies that support communities in addressing climate impacts effectively.
A postdoctoral or postgraduate research project training opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of the Administrator (AO). The appointment will be served with the Office of Policy (OP) in Washington, DC.

The impacts of a changing climate pose significant challenges to the EPA’s ability to fulfill its mission. The Agency must anticipate and plan for future changes in climate to ensure its programs, policies, rules and operations continue to be effective even as the climate changes.

EPA's Office of Policy serves as the singular focus for leadership and coordination on climate change adaptation across the entire Agency. Its goal is to build and strengthen the capacity of the EPA’s media programs and regional offices – and the capacity of the Agency’s state, Tribal, and local community partners -- to anticipate, plan for, and adapt to the changing climate. OP’s efforts support the President’s Climate Action Plan and related policy directives such as Executive Order 13653, "Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change," and also responds to requests from the EPA Local Government Advisory Committee.

This project will focus on conducting research to support EPA’s efforts to build and strengthen the climate change adaptive capacity in the approximately 40,000 local communities throughout the U.S. and its territories. The research participant will learn about climate adaptation in the context of EPA’s programs, underlying statutes, and overall mission. The research participant will have the opportunity to interact with staff members across EPA's offices and regions. The participant will learn about the EPA decision processes, which may help in design aspects of the research areas.

The participant will conduct research and analyze available information to: develop case studies illustrating climate change adaptation; identify and assess attributes of adaptive capacity at the community-level; and investigate and characterize community information gaps and needs related to climate adaptation. The participant’s research and associated reports will inform EPA strategies aimed at providing useful support to communities based on their local conditions (e.g., adaptive capacity, available resources).

Research activities may include:
• Examining and characterizing influential ways (e.g., information sources, organizational behaviors, local traditions) in which communities acquire knowledge of climate change impacts and vulnerabilities, adaptation strategies, or comparable information.
• Analyzing community characteristics to describe “like communities” as a means to more effectively deploying existing and new climate change adaptation tools, training, and information.
• Gathering results and documenting successful community-level adaptation approaches.
• Researching and implementing web-based approaches to sharing results within EPA and the public at large.
• Researching and documenting EPA funding mechanisms that are being used to support climate adaptation in communities.
• Researching and documenting major funding mechanisms across Federal agencies and characterizing their potential for fostering adaptation approaches that promote climate resilience in states, tribes and localities.
• Gathering data on results and outcomes from the 500-plus priority adaptation commitments included in EPA Program and Regional Climate Change Adaptation Implementation Plans.

This program, administered by ORAU through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and EPA.