Research Scientist, Environmental Health, School of Public Health

Boston University • Full-time • Boston, Massachusetts • 2w ago

Research Scientist – Center for Climate and Health

Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH)

Position Overview

The Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) Center for Climate and Health (CCH) invites applications for a Research Scientist to support interdisciplinary research on the health impacts of extreme weather, with embedded roles in major NIH-funded initiatives including the CAFE Research Coordinating Center (CAFE RCC) and the Gateway Exposome Coordinating Center (GECC). CCH advances research, training, and translation to reduce climate-related health risks with a focus on actionable science for vulnerable populations. The successful candidate will contribute to research spanning extreme weather, air pollution, built environment, and exposome science, while helping to build shared data infrastructure and collaborative science communities.

Key Responsibilities

Apply advanced geospatial, environmental, and spatiotemporal analytic methods (e.g., GIS, remote sensing, causal inference, statistical modeling)
Manage and harmonize large-scale datasets across climate, environmental, and population health domains
Lead and contribute to studies of climate-related exposures and health outcomes, including extreme heat, air pollution, and climate hazards
Contribute to manuscripts, grant proposals, and reports for NIH and other sponsors
Mentor trainees and support team science across BUSPH and partner institutions

CAFE RCC Activities:

Support development of the CAFE community of practice, convening researchers, agencies, and partners across disciplines with a focus on data, metadata and ontologies, and data pipelines.
Contribute to data sharing and reproducible science infrastructure, including the CAFE Dataverse and GitHub resources
Engage in training, workshops, and capacity-building initiatives (e.g., methods training, pilot projects, collaborative networks)
Facilitate integration and harmonization of environmental and health datasets to accelerate climate-health research

GECC Activities:

Contribute to development and application of exposome frameworks spanning environmental, social, and policy-related exposures
Support harmonization, linkage, and dissemination of exposure data and measures across cohorts and studies
Participate in generating science-ready tools, guidance, and best practices for exposome research
Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to advance research on life-course environmental exposures and health outcomes

Required Skills

Required Qualifications

PhD in data science, engineering, environmental health, epidemiology, biostatistics, geography, or related field
1-3 years of experience in creation and management of complex spatial environmental or health datasets and development of reproducible data pipelines. Substantive expertise in climate and health, environmental epidemiology, or exposure science also an asset.
Strong programming and analytic skills (e.g., R, Python, ArcGIS/QGIS)
Demonstrated publication record

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with extreme weather and climate exposure metrics
Expertise in spatial or spatiotemporal modeling
Familiarity with NIH data management, FAIR principles, and open science practices
Experience in collaborative or coordinating center environments
Interest in data infrastructure, harmonization, and community-engaged research

Research Environment

The Center for Climate and Health is a convergent science hub linking environmental health, epidemiology, data science, and policy. The Research Scientist will work within a highly collaborative ecosystem that includes:

The NIH-funded CAFE RCC, which convenes and accelerates a global community of practice for health and extreme weather research, supporting data sharing, training, and collaborative science
The NIA-funded GECC, a national coordinating center that standardizes, harmonizes, and disseminates exposome data and tools to advance life-course environmental health research
Partnerships across BUSPH and beyond focused on climate hazards, health equity, and actionable research translation

The Research Scientist will report directly to Dr. Kevin J. Lane, Associate Professor of Environmental Health at the Boston University School of Public Health and a leader within the Center for Climate and Health. Dr. Lane will provide scientific oversight, mentorship, and strategic guidance, particularly in the areas of exposure assessment, geospatial data science, and interdisciplinary climate-health research. The position is a 12-month, full-time appointment, with continuation contingent upon the availability of external research funding.

Application Instructions

All materials should be sent directly to Dr. Kevin Lane (klane@bu.edu), not submitted to this website.

Applicants should submit:

Cover letter describing research interests and alignment with CCH, CAFE, and GECC
Curriculum vitae
Contact information for three references

**Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

We are an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, natural or protective hairstyle, religion, sex, age, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, military service, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, or because of marital, parental, or veteran status. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.