DOE Job Opportunity: Associate Director, Office of Biological and Environmental Research

The mission of the BER program is to support transformative science and scientific user facilities to achieve a predictive understanding of complex biological, Earth, and environmental systems for clean energy and climate innovation. This fundamental research, conducted at universities, DOE national laboratories, and research institutions across the country, explores organisms and ecosystems that can influence the U.S. energy system and advances understanding of the relationships between energy and environment from local to global scales, including a focus on climate change modeling.

The research contributes to a future of stable, reliable, and resilient energy sources and infrastructures that will contribute to evidence-based climate solutions with a focus on environmental justice. Research within BER can be categorized into biological systems and Earth and environmental systems.

Biological systems research seeks to characterize and predictively understand microbial and plant systems using genomic science, computational analyses, and experimental approaches. This foundational knowledge underpins the ability to leverage natural processes for clean energy production, including the sustainable development of biofuels and other bioproducts, as well as natural carbon sequestration capabilities.

Earth and environmental systems research seek to characterize and understand the feedback between Earth and energy systems, including studies on atmospheric physics and chemistry, ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry, and development and validation of Earth system models extending from local to global scales. These models integrate information on the biosphere, atmosphere, terrestrial land masses, oceans, sea ice, subsurface, and human components.

To promote world-class research in these areas, BER supports user facilities that enable observation and measurement of atmospheric, biological, and biogeochemical processes using the latest technologies.

Please visit the USAJOBS.gov site for more information concerning the duties, qualifications, and application requirements for this position. Please ensure that all required application documents are provided before final submission.

If there are questions regarding the position, please contact Harriet Kung, harriet.kung@science.doe.gov, or Mariam Elsayed, mariam.elsayed@science.doe.gov.