Environmental Policy

Zintellect offers a postgraduate research training opportunity at the U.S. EPA in Washington, DC. The role involves environmental policy analysis, focusing on synthesizing information about environmental issues and trends. Responsibilities include conducting research, documenting findings, and analyzing ecological threats. The position supports the EPA's regulatory development process and provides policy advice to senior management, enhancing decision-making across various environmental priorities.
A postgraduate research training opportunity is currently available at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of the Administrator Policy (AO) in the Office of Policy (OP). The appointment will be served with the Office of Regulatory Policy and Management (ORPM), Policy and Regulatory Analysis Division (PRAD) in Washington, DC.

OP is the primary policy arm of EPA. It collaborates with EPA colleagues to support Agency priorities and enhance decision-making. It provides multi-disciplinary analytic skills, management support, and special expertise in five areas: regulatory policy and management, environmental economics, strategic environmental management, sustainable communities, and climate adaptation.

EPA issues regulations to carry out the environmental and public health protection laws enacted by Congress. OP's Office of Regulatory Policy and Management (ORPM), manages the regulatory development process for the Agency, providing support and guidance to EPA's program and regional offices as they develop regulations. ORPM provides policy and analytical advice and support to these offices, ensures compliance with key statutes and Executive Orders relating to regulatory process, and helps to promote analytical consistency and rigor across EPA’s regulatory portfolio.

ORPM advises the Administrator and other senior Agency decision-makers on regulatory and policy development; manages the Agency's policy priority agenda; conducts timely and effective policy analysis; and helps ensure that EPA’s regulatory decision processes and actions are invested with high quality information. ORPM assists the Administrator's Office in executing the Administrator's priorities. The Policy and Regulatory Analysis Division (PRAD) provides expert advice and information to senior EPA management and program offices. PRAD participates in development of -- and then review of -- all regulations that are to be signed by the EPA Administrator. PRAD also investigates, tracks, prioritizes, and communicates with senior management about key environmental issues (existing and emerging threats), new opportunities or approaches, and environmental policy options.

The opportunity involves environmental policy analysis focused on projects that are likely to involve synthesizing and summarizing information about environmental issues, policies, and opportunities, to communicate priorities and perspective on a broad set of environmental policy issues, trends, opportunities, and emerging threats.

The internship will involve research and analysis, and then documentation of those findings, to identify, prioritize among, analyze, and put in context selected examples of existing or emerging ecological or environmental health threats. There may also be technological or organizational opportunities using data analytics. A typical example of such activity would be EPA’s Strategic Foresight Panel, a group that is conducting environmental scanning of emerging issues and opportunities in the context of EPA’s strategic plan. This training opportunity may also involve drawing upon, extending the findings, or re-analyzing existing analyzes, such as conducting trends analysis across chemical pollutants or key terms in the scientific literature and press coverage. This may also include summarizing EPA programs, resources, or activities in the context of addressing future challenges.

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.