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A Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is an informal correspondence which is written by a Requesting Office and distributed to communities within a specific program area, to attract individuals eligible under a Visiting Scientist, Engineer, and Educator (VSEE) appointment, an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignment and/or a Federal Temporary appointment. These letters may be circulated in paper form through internal mail, distributed electronically using listservs or accessed through NSF.gov’s Career Page.

Economic Advisor (Economist)

Division: Evaluation and Assessment Capability (OIA/EAC)
Office: Integrative Activities (OD/OIA)
Job Type:
STEM
Appointment Type:
Temporary / Rotator
Pay Grade/Scale:
AD-04
This job is open to the public

Application timeline

Date Posted:
Closing date: Open until filled
Formal consideration of interested applicants will begin and will continue until a selection is made.

Position Summary

The Evaluation and Assessment Capability (EAC) Section within the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) announces a nationwide search to fill an Economic Advisor position. Formal consideration of interested applications will begin on March 25, 2024, and will continue until a selection is made.

EAC supports NSF decision makers by studying programs and activities and their impact on the people who participate in and benefit from NSF investments. EAC also provides centralized resources and guidance for data collection, analysis, evaluation design, surveys, and enterprise analytics. EAC engages stakeholders in identifying learning priorities which drive a broad portfolio of projects that use qualitative and quantitative methods, from descriptive analysis to advances in modeling, network analysis, and machine learning.

For more information on EAC please click here. 

Position Description

The Economic Advisor provides consultation and guidance to the Chief Evaluation Officer/EAC Section Head in a) the formulation of the NSF’s economic analysis goals, objectives, and priorities; b) Return on Investment (ROI) analyses for the basic research impacts to the U.S. economy, national security, innovation, and other areas of interest; c) the integration of priorities into effective strategies and programs; d) the implementation of program planning, implementation, and evaluation procedures; e) conduct of economic studies including econometric modeling and forecasting; and f) oversight of programmatic economic activities across OIA and NSF.

Specific duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Conduct agency-wide Return on Investment (ROI) analyses for the basic research impacts to the U.S. economy, national security, innovation, and other areas of interest. 
  • Design, coordinate, and oversee econometric and other types of modeling of programmatic initiatives and activities. 
  • Provide technical advice on development of economic models and provide feedback to staff on technical adjustments to improve model robustness.
  • Conduct or lead research projects, studies, and analyses, provide advice, and develop recommendations on issues facing NSF, with particular attention to describing, understanding, and estimating how NSF contributes to the U.S. and global STEM enterprise.
  • Support development and maintenance of NSF-specific price index for use by NSF in its budget analyses, long-range planning, and budget justifications to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Congress.

The position recruited under this announcement will be filled under the following appointment option(s):

Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) Assignment: Individuals eligible for an IPA assignment with a Federal agency include employees of State and local government agencies or institutions of higher education, Indian tribal governments, and other eligible organizations in instances where such assignments would be of mutual benefit to the organizations involved. Initial assignments under IPA provisions may be made for a period up to two years, with a possible extension for up to an additional two-year period. The individual remains an employee of the home institution and NSF provides the negotiated funding toward the assignee's salary and benefits. Initial IPA assignments are made for a one-year period and may be extended by mutual agreement. 

It is NSF policy that NSF personnel employed at or IPAs detailed to NSF are not permitted to participate in foreign government talent recruitment programs.  Failure to comply with this NSF policy could result in disciplinary action up to and including removal from Federal Service or termination of an IPA assignment and referral to the Office of Inspector General. https://www.nsf.gov/careers/Definition-of-Foreign-Talent-HRM.pdf.

Applications will be accepted from U.S. Citizens. Recent changes in Federal Appropriations Law require Non-Citizens to meet certain eligibility criteria to be considered. Therefore, Non-Citizens must certify eligibility by signing and attaching this Citizenship Affidavit to their application. Non-Citizens who do not provide the affidavit at the time of application will not be considered eligible. Non-Citizens are not eligible for positions requiring a security clearance.

To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees. Federal agencies may request information regarding the vaccination status of selected applicants for the purposes of implementing other workplace safety protocols, such as protocols related to masking, physical distancing, testing, travel, and quarantine.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in economics, social science, statistics, mathematics, or data science plus after award of the Ph.D.,  six or more years of successful research, research administration or managerial experience pertinent to the position; OR a Master's degree in economics, social science, statistics, mathematics, or data science plus after award of the Master’s degree, eight or more years of successful research, research administration or managerial experience pertinent to the position.  

Relevant experience includes:

  • Building econometric models, or other appropriate models, to analyze ROI of government or large-scale programs and policies.
  • Economic modeling and developing input-output models, or other appropriate models, used to support economic forecasting.
  • Working with macroeconomic data in support of research products that examine inflation and price indices.
  • Established research and publication record in the economics of science and research.
  • Managing and using complex national economic datasets, including but not limited to, those maintained by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Congressional Budget Office, and the Bureau of the Census, to inform economic research.

To apply, email a single PDF document that including (i) a cover letter outlining qualifications, reason for interest in the position, citations for up to 4 publications that demonstrate relevant experience, and a description of the candidate’s intellectual contributions to the publications; and (ii) an up-to-date curriculum vitae, to eac@nsf.gov. 

(attn: Erika Rissi, Section Head)

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