Job Alert: Senior Engineer/Scientist (Clean Vehicles Program) – Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, DC or Berkeley, CA

December 5, 2012 at 4:39 pm
Union of Concerned Scientists

Union of Concerned Scientists (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Job Description

Senior Engineer/Scientist
Clean Vehicles Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
Location choice: Washington, DC or Berkeley, CA Office

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the leading science-based organization at the center of today’s most exciting and important policy debates, seeks an individual to work with a top-notch, multi-disciplinary team in our Clean Vehicles Program to advance sound transportation policy to cut oil use and protect public health. UCS is seeking a senior engineer/scientist to conduct research and analysis and serve as a lead spokesperson focused on solutions that save oil and reduce climate emissions, fuel economy, electric vehicles, and related technology and policy issues. Candidates must have a strong background in vehicle and fuel technology and transportation policy and excellent written and oral communication skills.

Responsibilities

The Senior Engineer/Scientist will help lead UCS efforts to evaluate potential transportation sector policy and technology solutions to cut projected US oil use in half within twenty years and significantly reduce transportation related pollution.

The person in this position will

  • generate reports on oil savings, fuel economy, and electric vehicle technology, develop related policies;
  • serve as a technical expert and a lead spokesperson to media, government and key allies;
  • provide technical information and expertise through testimony, written materials and public speaking;
  • actively promote promising legislation at federal and state levels;
  • assist in developing and managing regulatory campaigns on key oil and transportation-related issues.

Desired Skills & Experience

Qualifications and experience

This position requires five to seven years of related experience for candidates with masters or equivalent experience, including background in research and policy development and analysis. Candidate must have experience communicating technical issues to a non-technical audience through written products and presentations. Candidate should have knowledge of the transportation field, including vehicle and fuel technology, infrastructure, and industries. Candidate should have familiarity with current oil and transportation issues and their political/social/environmental/economic ramifications.  Position requires an understanding of public policy aspects of transportation and related climate and oil issues and the role of technical analyses and advocacy in shaping public opinion and policy debates.

Applicants must have strong quantitative and research skills; strong writing and verbal skills; proficiency with spreadsheet and word processing software; ability to write well for scientific and general audiences; familiarity with economics and public policy; and a team orientation.  Experience with project management, policymakers and the media a plus.

At UCS, comparable training and/or experience can be substituted for degrees when appropriate.

Company Description

The Union of Concerned Scientists is the leading U.S. science-based nonprofit organization working for a healthy environment and a safer world. Founded in 1969, UCS is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also has offices in Berkeley, Chicago and Washington, D.C. For more information, go to www.ucsusa.org.

Additional Information

Compensation, Hours and Location: This is a full time position based in either UCS’s Washington, DC or Berkeley, CA office. For candidates who meet all position requirements, the salary is in the high $70,000s. UCS offers excellent benefits and is an equal opportunity employer continually seeking to diversify its staff. Information about UCS is available at http://www.ucsusa.org

To Apply: Please submit a cover letter, a technical writing sample and a general audience writing sample, salary requirements, how you learned about the position and resume via email to jobs@ucsusa.org and include “Senior Engineer/Scientist” in the subject line. Email materials in Word or PDF format only. No phone calls please. Deadline: December 14, 2012 or until filled.

Posted: November 28, 2012

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Trailblazing 71 year old Mayor of Berkeley, Calif. gives up his car; sends a strong & green message!

April 23, 2009 at 11:36 pm

(Source: SF Gate)

Some mayors tool around in Priuses and hybrid Civics. But Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates has taken green transit a step further.  

Image: Paul Chinn/The Chronicle

No more cars for him, at all.

The 71-year-old mayor is trading in his 2001 Volvo for an AC Transit pass and a sturdy pair of walking shoes.

“I’m trying to reduce my carbon footprint to the absolute minimum,” he said. “I figure, if I really want to go someplace I can just rent a car.”

Bates’ long farewell to the Volvo began about a year ago, when he started walking to work as a way to lose weight and stay in shape. The 18-minute trek from his home in South Berkeley to City Hall was so invigorating he started walking everywhere he could – to Berkeley Bowl, the BART station, city council meetings.

He even bought a pedometer to tally his footsteps. His goal: 10,000 steps a day, which he has achieved nearly every day since the tabulations began May 10, 2008. Since then he’s walked 4,908,970 steps, according to the daily log he enters in his computer.

The Bates household is not entirely automobile-free. His wife, State Sen. Loni Hancock, owns a Toyota Camry hybrid, which she uses to commute to Sacramento. Hancock and the Camry are at the Capitol four days a week, however, leaving Bates with nothing but his TransLink card and his Rockports.

Bates’ decision to set the Volvo free was not easy. Like most Americans, he has a deep passion for the open road, quick acceleration and a good sound system. He has fond memories of cruising in the Volvo down Highway 1, Beethoven on the CD player, sunroof wide open.

“A car represents freedom,” he said. “For a long time I kept thinking, how would I really feel about getting rid of it? Finally I just came to the conclusion that keeping the car was ridiculous. It was just depreciating in my driveway.”

Many Bay Area mayors are taking a greener approach to transportation. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom rides in a hybrid police car for city business, and on weekends he drives his all-electric Tesla Roadster.