Description: The Waste to Energy and Water Quality Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Stephanie Lansing in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology is looking to hire two part-time (15-20 hours/week) Undergraduate Research Assistants for anaerobic digestion research.
Duties: The work involves collecting and analyzing manure, wastewater, algae, and food waste for nutrients, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total and volatile solids contents (TS/VS), as well as monitoring biogas production and gas composition via gas chromatography (GC), and inputting data into an Excel spreadsheet.
The student must be comfortable working with laboratory equipment, wastewater/manure samples, and have a valid US driver’s license, with less than 6 points in moving violations and be comfortable driving an automatic University truck to/from field sites for sample collection.
Qualification: Previous lab experience is a plus, but not necessary. The student must show a demonstrated work ethic, attention to detail, a willingness to learn, and stick to a punctual laboratory work schedule. Priority will be given to underclassmen (freshmen, sophomore and beginning juniors) to allow for the possibility of the student working multiple years in the Waste to Energy laboratory, but all levels are welcome to apply.
Pay rate will start at $10.10/hour, with 2 weeks of unpaid probationary training period prior to starting on payroll. There is possibility of pay increases with experienced gained. Opportunities include professional development with mentoring from graduate students, post-docs, and Dr. Lansing. Attendance at weekly laboratory meetings is mandatory, where relevant research topics will be discussed and results from the laboratory experiments presented.
To Apply: Applications should be emailed to Dr. Stephanie Lansing: slansing@umd.edu by September 12th at 5pm. The applications should include an updated resume, a cover letter detailing laboratory experience, expected graduation date, additional pertinent experience/details, and a schedule detailing the proposed 15 hours a week you could work in the lab.