Department Overview

The OHSU-PSU School of Public Health (SPH) is aligned with the American Public Health Association in declaring racism a public health crisis, and our School is committed to becoming an antiracist SPH. We are working to center social justice in our internal and external work as a school and are committed to addressing structural and institutional racism, and to holding ourselves accountable to this work.

This Research Assistant will conduct research in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Tratnyek, in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health (SPH), at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Some of the Assistant's work will be co-supervised by Prof. Rick Johnson, also of the SPH.

The position will involve a variety of laboratory-based activities related to studies of contaminant fate and remediation in environmental media (especially, groundwater). The activities will include preparation and operation of reactors (batch or columns containing aquifer sediment), sampling of the column pore water and analysis by gas or liquid chromatography, and data analysis including kinetic modeling. Specialized activities may include LabView programming for automation of instrument operation, geochemical modeling of reactor solution chemistry, etc. Additional responsibilities will include maintenance and operation of anaerobic glove boxes, updating laboratory supplies and their inventories, using and developing standard operating procedures, and maintaining laboratory safety protocols. These responsibilities are not all-inclusive and additional responsibilities may be assigned as needed.

Function/Duties of Position

Required Qualifications

• Bachelors degree
• Excellent chemical laboratory skills.
• Strong scientific curiosity and proven initiative to pursue solutions.
• Strong writing skills.
• Demonstrated success in prioritizing, organizing and handling multiple tasks and deadlines.
• Demonstrated success working independently and as a member of a collaborative team.
• Demonstrated skills in communicating complex scientific concepts to a variety of audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without accommodation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Chemistry or Chemical Engineering degree with minor in geological or environmental science.
• 1+ years relevant laboratory experience
• Experience with operation and maintenance of gas chromatographs and spectrometers.
• Software: Igor, LabView, Geochemist's Workbench, Affinity or Adobe Creative Suite, EndNote

Additional Details

Work schedule will be set by the supervising faculty. Hours outside the standard work week may be necessary occasionally depending on the needs of the research.

Working conditions:

• In person work at OHSU Marquam Hill campus in Portland, Oregon.
• Incumbent must have ability to safely move, connect, and disconnect compressed gas cylinders.
• Working in an open wet lab environment, in the presence of laboratory chemicals and automated equipment.
• Radioactive materials are not currently used by this research group; however, they may be used in other groups within the open lab space.

All are welcome