Career Center

The Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota seeks a Research Scholar in Energy Transition. This is part of a cluster hire to enhance the capacity of the University of Minnesota, through the IonE, to pursue interdisciplinary and collaborative research that advances sustainable systems through community-engaged and societally impactful scholarship.  At IonE, we frame sustainability as a social, economic, and ecological state where the needs of all people are met in a way that sustains – and even restores – the natural world: where people and planet prosper together. Within this domain, we are focused on advancing carbon neutrality in the state of Minnesota by advancing an equitable energy transition.

As part of the cluster hire, we seek a Research Scholar in Energy Transition to develop an externally funded engaged-research program to support an equitable energy transition in the Midwest. Applicants are expected to have an area of focus within the energy transition realm that is rooted in interdisciplinary perspectives and will need to articulate how that focus both connects with, and enhances our existing UMN expertise (see About Position below). Applicants must also demonstrate their commitment to working with partners outside of academia and how their work contributes to the impact of these partnerships.

We are looking for colleagues at any career stage who will establish long-term careers at the intersection of original scholarship and translational science, with an emphasis on team science and collaboration that includes other members of the IonE community. Successful candidates will be expected to establish an externally funded research program that partially supports their salary (>50% external funding) and supports other researchers. This position does not include any teaching responsibilities; however, candidates are welcome to seek teaching opportunities and may be nominated for graduate faculty status to serve on graduate student committees. We consider translation within and outside the university as part of professional activities.

This position will be based in the Knowledge Initiatives (KI) branch of the Institute, which hosts a portfolio of interdisciplinary sustainability research and scholarly activity for IonE.  The position is located at IonE on the St. Paul, MN campus and the person will be expected to fully participate in IonE, including attending IonE events as well as developing working relationships with other IonE staff, university researchers and students, and external partners. This position allows for some teleworking; however, because of the collaborative nature of this work, the incumbent must be able to work on campus regularly. We are able to discuss work flexibility options as part of an offer, and relocation funding will be made available for candidates who would need to move to the region.

About the position:

This hired Research Scholar will lead IonE’s energy transition portfolio. Our goal is for Minnesota’s energy systems decarbonization strategies to be a global model for developing a prosperous and equitable carbon-neutral economy that advances innovation and improves people’s lives and the environment.

This research program should strive to tackle the most challenging barriers to advancing an equitable energy transition in Minnesota and the Midwest. The person in this role would take responsibility for helping to catalyze the UMN/IonE community of faculty, staff, and students in working towards high-impact interdisciplinary research. The person would also engage decision-makers, practitioners, and community members in a way that includes the empowerment of and partnership with under-represented communities. UMN has current expertise in renewable energy integration, energy storage, demand side technologies, and utility regulation; we would be looking to build expertise in these and other areas related to just and equitable clean energy.

The Research Scholar would be responsible for designing and developing project strategy, serving as the Principal Investigator on sponsored and non-sponsored awards, assuming fiduciary responsibilities for the budgets of funded projects, and supervising a team of policy analysts and researchers. The Research Scholar would work across programs to support Institute-wide research development, budgeting, external partnerships, and IonE-wide strategic projects such as Impact Goals and the IonE Energy Transition Strategic Plan.

This search is open-rank, and selected candidates will be considered for different job classifications; salary ranges for these positions are $70,000 to $125,000 depending on qualifications. More senior appointments involve higher salary and potentional for longer contracts with advancement in salary and contract duration, depending on career stage. Candidates will be regularly reviewed for reappointment and promotion.

Application reviews will begin on June 10, 2022 and the job will close on June 16, 2022 and all applications submitted by this date will be considered. Candidates who do not submit all required materials by the job close date, in the requested format, will not move forward. To apply, please submit as PDFs:

1. A detailed cover letter that describes your expertise and qualifications. Within the cover letter please include:
   • a description of scholarly expertise and major projects and/or outcomes
   • how you meet the required qualifications and your interest in this particular position  
   • examples of how you currently or will in the future integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice as part of your scholarly work; if you are a person who is part of a group who has been historically excluded, you may choose to instead include any questions you have for us about our anti-racist commitment and culture
   • acknowledgement of your willingness to relocate to the Mpls/St.Paul area
2. CV or resume, and 
3. Contact information for at least 3 recent references (i.e., name, title, organization; URL to biographical sketch or similar; address, phone number, and email address; and relationship to the candidate). References will not be contacted until final candidates have been identified; candidates will be notified prior to contacting references. 

Competitive candidates will be contacted for a remote interview in July 2022; finalists will be invited for an in-person interview and job seminar in August 2022. Additional interviews may be scheduled after these dates if the position remains open and the process may be modified depending on the status of the pandemic.

The Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) and IonE endorse a “work with flexibility” approach that offers a welcoming and flexible work environment where everyone is inspired to do their best. Work location options include working fully remote, partially remote, or entirely in the office and are based on the work of the position. Some on-site work may be necessary for certain positions, even those designated as fully remote. Because we are a land-grant institution that serves the state, the University will continue to- in most cases- expect employees to live in Minnesota.

This position has been designated as either work profile 2 or 3: Profile 2 is expected to work on-site more than 50% of the time. Your office will be located at IonE in St. Paul, MN. Profile 3 is expected to work remotely more than 50% of the time. Your dedicated office space will be in your remote work location with drop-in space available at IonE in St. Paul, MN. IonE management retains the right to modify flexible work arrangement agreements on a temporary or permanent basis for any reason at any time.

Required Qualifications:

• Successful completion of a graduate degree (e.g., PhD, JD, MBA, MS/MA) in any field and an established scholarly portfolio appropriate to given career stage (demonstrated by scientific databases, reports, white papers, training materials, decision support systems, software and metadata documentation, policy memos, peer-reviewed publications, and patent filings)
• Successful track-record of externally-funded research collaborations
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment with other experts both within the University and outside (e.g., communities, governments, businesses, etc.)
• Interdisciplinary research experience in energy that connects with and enhances existing strengths at the Institute and the University.

Preferred Qualifications (there is not an expectation that all of these would be met):

• Ability to advance and catalyze others towards IonE’s vision as described in the Strategic Plan including the ability to engage scholars across UMN towards energy transition goals, and co-produce creative, fundable, and impactful projects to advance sustainable outcome
• Topical expertise or experience with renewable energy integration, energy storage, demand side technologies, and utility regulation; social science, policy, energy economics or decision analysis; software development; decision support tools; co-production processes, participatory action research or community-engaged scholarship; and synthesis of energy transition topics to support decision-making.
• Awareness and/or integration of distributional, procedural, and recognitional equity as part of your research projects and/or examples of inclusively engaging diverse people and perspectives 
• Experience supervising and mentoring established research staff, including encouraging a collaborative and inclusive approach to our goal-oriented work; supervision experience relevant to assigned rank
• Strong commitment to mentoring and supervising undergraduate and graduate students
• An established record of impact-oriented public engagement and partner relationship cultivation that is integrated into research and professional activities
• Significant fundraising experience and/or current funding from diverse sources such as government grants (e.g., Federal, state), NGOs, foundation, and donors