STUDENT-FWS-Community Science Institute, Inc.

Call for Applications: Water Quality Work-Study Student 

About Community Science Institute: Community Science Institute is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and NYSDOH ELAP-certified water testing lab. Our mission is to inspire and empower communities to safeguard water resources by cultivating scientific literacy through volunteer water quality monitoring, certified laboratory analyses, and education. CSI recruits, trains, and coordinates volunteers to participate in our water quality monitoring programs: Synoptic Stream and Lake Monitoring, Biomonitoring, and Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring. In partnership with these volunteers, we build long-term datasets of regulatory quality data that can help guide the sustainable management of local water resources. These data are available to the public on our online water quality database: www.database.communityscience.org. Alone, these data speak volumes, but we help give them a voice through our outreach and education initiatives including our Water and Community events, Water Bulletin Newsletter, summer Journey of Water youth education series, Biomonitoring Open Lab nights, and Monthly Updates. In addition, CSI offers fee-based, certified drinking water testing services and counts the Tompkins County Health Department and Cornell University as well as dozens of businesses and hundreds of private homeowners among our clients. Through our fee-for-service program, we offer affordable water tests to the public while also providing our clients with the information they need to make informed decisions about their drinking water resources.

Summary

Position: Water Quality Work-Study Student

Supervisor: Executive Director

Supervises: None

FLSA Status: Non-Exempt; Part-Time

Responsibilities:

The Water Quality Work-Study Student’s responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to:

• Assist with coordination of CSI programs (Biomonitoring, Harmful Algal Bloom, Synoptic Sampling, Journey of Water) and events.

• Support CSI staff to develop, produce, and publish educational content about water quality through social media, handouts, fact sheets, or articles.

• Provide customer service to CSI’s diverse clientele by discussing their water testing needs, educating clients about water quality issues, providing appropriate sample bottles and chain-of-custody forms, and logging samples into our state certified laboratory system.

• Enter data from our water quality monitoring programs into CSI’s public water quality database.

• Prepare certified water test reports for drinking water clients.

• Wash and prepare sample bottles for volunteer monitoring programs.

The Work-Study Student will also be given the opportunity to pursue a specific project that supports CSI’s mission pending approval from the Executive Director.

Requirements:

Specific experience is not required. However, we do require that Work-Study Students be able to take initiative, work independently, solve problems, and pay close attention to detail. Candidates with the following experience will be considered competitive for this position: 

• At least 2 semesters of coursework in chemistry, environmental science, biology, or a related discipline

• Experience with science communication or science education

• Customer service experience

• Confidence using Microsoft 365

Working Conditions: 

• Traditional office environment with some occasional field work

• Must be able to sit for extended periods of time

Inclusion statement: CSI is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage qualified applicants from historically underrepresented groups in the sciences to apply. We will fully consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, culture, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, religion, lifestyle, marital status, or veteran status. 

Hiring rate: $17/hr