This position is located with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Wyndmoor, PA. In this position, you will work with a team of researchers in a broad and complex research area aimed at utilizing wasted streams or products from ice cream and/or other milk processes to develop economical methods to recover proteins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals.

Duties

Provides expertise and knowledge in dairy or food technology and science, identifies research opportunities to reduce wasted products and waste streams from existing processes. Provides innovative processing approaches to utilize the wasted products in food and nonfood applications. Research is aimed at mitigation of dairy food losses through utilization of similar or pooled wasted products and their byproduct streams, predominantly from ice cream manufacture, adding value. Uses knowledge of the interaction of ice cream components such as fats, proteins, sugars, hydrocolloids, and emulsifiers in the wasted products and the byproduct streams, to develop new processes for their recovery or to formulate new products. Uses knowledge related to the processing of the valuable dairy fat or edible fats and oils and the chemistry of their degradation. Knowledge and experience with the industrial scale production of ice cream or other frozen desserts. Develops national and international collaborations and extramural agreements that advance project goals. Serves as a science and technical advisor on gaps in knowledge in areas of expertise and works with the dairy or food industries to fill in the critical knowledge gaps.

Requirements

• You must be a US Citizen or US National.
• Males born after 12/31/1959 must be Selective Service registered or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Direct Deposit: Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify at https://www.e-verify.gov/
• Successful completion of a three year probationary period.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet all qualifications and eligibility requirements by the closing date of the announcement including specialized experience and/or education, as defined below. PLEASE SEE THE EDUCATION SECTION BELOW FOR THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS POSITION Additional Requirements In addition to meeting the basic requirements described in the Education section below, applicants must also meet the additional qualification requirements as stated below. GS-14 Applicants must demonstrate at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. The specialized experience requirements for the GS-14 level of this position are: conceiving and conducting research to develop new laboratory and pilot-scale food processing methods to better utilize dairy byproduct streams and conserve water; using technology to detect factors that diminish quality, or are defective, and to remove contaminants, and factors that cause cross-contamination of allergens; identifying research opportunities and providing innovative approaches to utilize the wasted products in food and nonfood applications; publishing, as primary author, independent research findings in peer-reviewed journals related to dairy or food science and technology; and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. GS-15 Applicants must demonstrate at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-14 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is experience directly related to the position to be filled. The specialized experience requirements for the GS-15 level of this position are: conceiving, planning, and conducting research and collaborative research related to dairy or food science and technology, independently or by leadership of a team of scientists; research experience and significant advancements that led to national/ international recognition as an authority and leader in dairy or food sciences, technology, and engineering, as demonstrated by primary authorship of several important papers in peer-reviewed journals related to dairy or food science and technology, patents, or models; speaking invitations to national and international committees and conferences; presenting research results at professional meetings, and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. To further support your qualifications, it is strongly recommended that you submit a one-page abstract of your MS thesis and/or Ph.D. dissertation. Failure to do so could result in loss of your consideration/referral. Also, please submit a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers of persons familiar with your stature, contributions, recognition; any honors or awards received; memberships in professional or honor societies; invitations to make presentations at scientific/technical meetings; scientific society office and committee assignments; presentations (other than invitation); and publications. Applicants must be available to report for duty at the time a selection is made. Selections are typically made within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

Education

PLEASE SEE QUALIFICATIONS SECTION ABOVE FOR THE ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS POSITION

Basic Requirements for Food Technology Series, 1382
Degree: food technology, or dairy technology, microbiology, biology, chemistry, physics, or a related discipline or field of biological or physical science. The course work must have been comprised of at least 30 semester hours in the basic biological and physical sciences, and included at least 20 semester hours in food technology and closely related subjects, or 20 semester hours in subjects that can be applied directly to food technology.
OR
Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major, including the course work specified, as shown above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Basic Requirements for Chemical Engineering Series, 0893
A. Degree: Engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); or (2) include differential and integral calculus and courses (more advanced than first-year physics and chemistry) in five of the following seven areas of engineering science or physics: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics.
OR
B. Combination of education and experience: college-level education, training, and/or technical experience that furnished (1) a thorough knowledge of the physical and mathematical sciences underlying engineering, and (2) a good understanding, both theoretical and practical, of the engineering sciences and techniques and their applications to one of the branches of engineering. The adequacy of such background must be demonstrated by one of the following:
1. Professional registration or licensure: Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) by any State, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico. Absent other means of qualifying under this standard, those applicants who achieved such registration by means other than written test (e.g., State grandfather or eminence provisions) are eligible only for positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of their registration. For example, an applicant who attains registration through a State Board's eminence provision as a manufacturing engineer typically would be rated eligible only for manufacturing engineering positions.
2. Written Test: Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination or any other written test required for professional registration by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses: Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that include the courses specified in the basic requirements under paragraph A. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program as described in paragraph A.
4. Related curriculum: Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a bachelor's degree in engineering, provided the applicant has had at least 1 year of professional engineering experience acquired under professional engineering supervision and guidance. Ordinarily there should be either an established plan of intensive training to develop professional engineering competence, or several years of prior professional engineering-type experience, e.g., in interdisciplinary positions. (The above examples of related curricula are not all-inclusive.)

Basic Requirements for Chemistry Series, 1320
Degree: physical sciences, life sciences, or engineering that included 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by course work in mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics.
OR
Combination of education and experience: course work equivalent to a major as shown above, including at least 30 semester hours in chemistry, supplemented by mathematics through differential and integral calculus, and at least 6 semester hours of physics, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

Contacts

• Address Agricultural Research Service 10300 Baltimore Avenue Beltsville, MD 20705 US
• Name: Ehila Melton
• Phone: 5716694043
• Email: [email protected]