Data-Driven EnviroLab Temporary Research Specialist/Data Analyst

This position may be eligible for a hybrid work arrangement that may include a partially remote work location, consistent with System Office policy. UNC Chapel Hill employees are generally required to reside within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned duty station.
The Data-Driven EnviroLab (DDL) at UNC-Chapel Hill seeks a Research Specialist with a data science focus to support interdisciplinary research on environmental, climate, energy, and sustainability issues. The position will work across projects that use large and heterogeneous datasets to understand environmental and policy challenges, develop reproducible analytical workflows, and translate research findings into accessible tools and outputs for researchers, policymakers, and the public.
This Data Scientist/Research Specialist position is intended for recent BS/BA or Master's graduates and early-career professionals interested in strengthening their applied research skills, including those considering doctoral study. The candidate will use R and/or Python to collect, clean, integrate, manage, and analyze data from multiple sources; apply quantitative, statistical, and, where relevant, geospatial methods; and contribute to data products, visualizations, and research outputs.
Working with an interdisciplinary team spanning data science/statistics, computer science, climate policy, law, and social science, the candidate may contribute to projects that:
- Develop and maintain research datasets by integrating administrative, web, geospatial, policy, and other public or proprietary data sources, with attention to data quality, documentation, and reproducibility.
- Build and maintain data pipelines using APIs, web scraping, automated collection, cleaning, classification, and validation methods.
- Conduct quantitative, statistical, and geospatial analyses to study environmental, economic, health, and policy questions; depending on the project, methods may include regression, panel-data analysis, machine learning, and spatial analysis.
- Create dashboards, visualizations, and other data products that translate complex datasets and findings into accessible information for researchers, policymakers, and the public.
- Contribute to research reports, academic publications, presentations, and other outputs produced by the interdisciplinary team.
One current application of this work is DDL's U.S. Data Center Dashboard, which tracks data center facilities and state and local policies related to data center development and may expand to incorporate community awareness and responses. In this project, the Research Specialist may help develop and validate facility and policy datasets, analyze environmental, health, economic, and policy implications, and support continued dashboard development. The position may also contribute to other DDL research projects as needs evolve.