Post Master
The work will entail:
We are looking for a life cycle assessment (LCA) researcher (US Citizen) to join our team in evaluating
materials and engineered systems using life cycle system science. The position will collaborate with NIST
researchers and NIST’s external collaborators in a variety of topics relevant to their work including
economists, engineers, and scientists – connecting LCA to fundamental research, life-cycle analysis, and
decision support tools related to activities across a range of research topic areas: building and
infrastructure, energy, circular economy, resilience, and decision science. Initial activities will include
developing and updating of LCA models for a variety of construction materials and building systems and
emerging technologies and material recovery pathways that will be published and maintained in
repositories on the Federal LCA Commons. Specifically, this will include developing and publishing open-
source models based on public data for large format battery manufacturing and material recovery
pathways and complete a life cycle inventory (LCI) data gap assessment. The position will also be
responsible for collaborating with a computer scientist in developing a large language model (LLM)
based web application to digitize PDF-based environmental product declaration (EPD) claims using the
OpenEPD schema. Additionally, the position will complete statistical analysis of the battery LCA
modeling literature as well as assist in validating an LLM literature review support tool. The position will
also be responsible for geospatial analysis as needed.
Life Cycle System Science of Materials and Engineered Systems
- US Citizen
- Master’s in Engineering, Environmental Science, or related field
- Experience in ISO compliant LCA modeling and related research
- Experience using OpenLCA
- Experience using public life cycle inventory (LCI) databases, including the Federal LCA
Commons repositories and GREET suite of tools - Experience using technical document reference software (e.g., Zotero, EndNote)
- Knowledge of construction materials and building sciences and systems
- Extensive knowledge of EPDs and OpenEPD JSON schema
- Knowledge of large language model (LLM) applications for document parsing, information
formatting, and text summary - Experience in life cycle assessment of at least 5 of the following: large format batteries,
concrete, cement, asphalt, gypsum, other building materials and systems, material recovery
pathways, and whole buildings - Proficient in spatial analysis using GIS-based software (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS)
- Experience in solving complex LCA-related problems (i.e., long supply chains and production
processes, and evaluation of multiple impact indicators and methods) - Experience writing literature reviews and conducting statistical analysis
- Excellent writing and communication skills, including at least 2 technical publications and at
least 2 conference presentations - Self-driven and capable of working independently with minimal supervision
Key responsibilities could include, but are not limited to, leading the following activities:
- Review, assessment, and improvements to NIST’s existing LCA data models and decision support
tools - Identify, quantify, and prioritize data gaps for large format batteries and other product categories of
interest to NIST - Develop and maintain a repository on the Federal LCA Commons for large format batteries
- Identify research and data gaps in current LCA-related activities at NIST
- Validate LLM-based tools
- Write research slide decks, reports, and/or journal articles
- Participate in ACLCA committees and sub-committees and LCA-relevant NIST consortia as
appropriate