This position serves as an engineering expert and program leader on the Center's Mine Emergency Response Team. During mine emergencies, the incumbent serves as the principal on-site expert for monitoring of underground contaminants and interpretation of air sample and contaminants concentration data. This position is inside the bargaining unit.

Duties

Serves as a principal member of investigatory teams to determine the causes of accidents relating to mine ventilation, such as mine fires, explosions, and inundations. Develops highly specialized training courses and seminars related to mine emergency response and atmospheric monitoring of contaminants from fires and explosions. Planning, coordinating, directing, and reporting results of projects designed to acquire accurate data for characterizing underground mine ventilation systems and the underground environment in coal, metal and nonmetal mines, and tunnels. Provides support, direction, and policy interpretation in response to inquiries from MSHA and outside organizations. Serves as a ventilation expert on committees to develop standards and regulations related to mine ventilation, air quality, air contaminant monitoring and other associated areas. Provides technical presentations of reports or papers of importance to those engaged in mine ventilation engineering, and related fields. Serves as an instructor during highly specialized training courses and seminars related to mine emergency response, mine ventilation, air contaminant monitoring and other related topics. Provides MSHA officials with expert advice based on interpretation of air sample and contaminant concentration data. Serves as an expert witness in both civil and criminal litigation.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must be at least 16 years old.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
• Requires medical exam and must maintain physical requirements.
• Requires a valid driver's license.
• Appointment to this position may require a background investigation.

Qualifications

You must meet both the Basic Education Requirements and the Specialized Experience to qualify for Mining Engineer, as described below. All applicable transcripts must be submitted. Basic Education Requirement 0880 Series Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study in professional engineering. To be acceptable, the curriculum must: (1) be in a school of engineering with at least one curriculum accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) as a professional engineering curriculum; 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 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 professional 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: Professional registration -- Current registration as a professional engineer 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. Written Test -- Evidence of having succesfully passed the Engineer-in-Training (EIT) examination, or the written test required for professional registration, which is administered by the Boards of Engineering Examiners in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Applicants who have passed the EIT examination and have completed all the requirements for either (a) a bachelor's degree in engineering technology (BET) from an accredited college of university that included 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences, or (b) a BET from a program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) may be rated eligible for certain engineering positions at GS-5. Eligibility is limited to positions that are within or closely related to the specialty field of the engineering technology program. Applicants for positions that involve highly technical research, development, or similar functions requiring an advanced level of competence in basic science must meet the basic requirements in paragraph A. Because of the diversity in kind and quality of BET programs, graduates of other BET programs are required to complete at least 1 year of additional education or highly technical work experience of such nature as to provide reasonable assurance of the possession of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for professional engineering competence. The adequacy of this background must be demonstrated by passing the EIT examination. Specified academic courses -- Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and in engineering that included the courses specified in the basic requirements. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of a professional engineering curriculum as described for a degree. Related curriculum -- Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in engineering technology or in an appropriate professional field, e.g., physics, chemistry, architecture, computer science, mathematics, hydrology, or geology, may be accepted in lieu of a 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.) Specialized Experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level, GS-012, in the Federal Service that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, experience and skills to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience must include three of the following: (These types of examples must be fully evident in your resume.) Presents testimony as an expert witness in civil or criminal litigation; Evaluates engineering plans or documents prepared by others and recommends corrective actions; Independently conducts engineering surveys and inspections for compliance with federal requirements; Independently investigates mine ventilation systems, air quality, air contaminants, or other severe violations of safety standards that present some of the most serious, unusual and hard to define problems to solve; Assists in mine emergency operations; Demonstrates effective written and oral communication skills utilizing Microsoft Office Applications (Excel; Word; Outlook; PowerPoint) and Adobe to draft, finalize and present reports and presentations; Assists in the development and recommendation of policies and procedures which govern engineering aspects of mine ventilation, air quality, air contaminant monitoring and other associated areas.

Education

Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service.

If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.

Contacts

• Address Mine Safety and Health Administration 200 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20210 US
• Name: Rhonda Dory
• Phone: 972-850-4427
• Email: [email protected]