Ideas for expanding into an environmental project?

[Jufro]

Hey PF,

I recently graduated with a B.A. in math. During my undergrad career I worked on several projects gathering data and developing computation models for them.

Now that I have finished my undergrad track I wanted to jump into the workforce before thinking about other options like grad school.

Is anyone aware of companies or organizations (large and small) who would be looking to hire someone in an "analyst" sort of position, specifically a program dealing with environmental issues?

It isn't that I am looking for a 20 year career to make $100,000 a year. I would just like to find a project which I can delve into, gain experience and possibly start networking to a larger pool of people.

With little luck I have spent my summer looking for a job and now I figure why not ask the forums.

Thanks for your time in reading this.

-TN

 

[Timo]

There are, in my experience, a lot of private and semi-private companies specializing in contract-based scientific consulting. I know of at least two that specialize in environmental topics (both being German there's not much point naming them, I guess). Every larger research project I know of includes at least one partner for scientific data analysis, which may be a university, a public research institute or a private company/consultancy. If you are willing to put a bit of effort into finding a job you could read up on environmental projects, try to identify the project partners responsible for the data analysis and see if they hire (or ask them - "I've read your report on project X and find your company interesting" is not the worst basis for applying for a job).

I'm not sure what "environmental" is supposed to mean exactly (and neither are you, I guess). If smart grids and photovoltaic is interesting for you, here's a job offer from Fraunhofer USA I happened to find: job offer

 

[Jufro]

Well, I have worked on two projects thus far, using microbial populations and fluctuations as an indicator for how "healthy" local streams and rivers are and generating maps evaluating urban and suburban streets for their bike friendliness. So, I guess by environmental I was referring more in the direction of urban planning but I don't really mean to narrow my focus just yet (or maybe I should).

But I really like your suggestion of looking at specific publications that have been put out and using them to find out which parties are responsible for what I am trying to do.

Thanks Timo