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Application window open from 03-12 February: https://www.usajobs.gov/job/773949100
This Biomedical Research Associate position will be filled as either a GS-0858-11 Biomedical Engineer (Biomechanics) or GS-0413-11 Physiologist (Biomedical).
This position is in the Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence (EACE), Research & Surveillance (R&S) Section, located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, Maryland. The EACE R&S comprises interdisciplinary teams of basic, translational, and clinical scientists embedded across the Military Health System, with access to an unprecedented number and diversity of service members with extremity injuries. The EACE R&S teams work alongside front-line healthcare providers to better understand the breadth of medical challenges patients and military clinicians are experiencing. This unique opportunity allows us to deliver high-value research capabilities with access to state-of-the-art facilities that provide a full suite of equipment and resources. This combination makes the EACE R&S ideally suited to conduct a broad range of research activities, from foundational science experiments to large-scale clinical trials.
At WRNMMC, our local research portfolio focuses on maximizing long-term outcomes. Even with advances in surgical and rehabilitative care, as well as assistive technologies, secondary health conditions are exceedingly common following extremity trauma. In particular, musculoskeletal injuries (e.g., joint pain and degeneration) often develop or deteriorate over time, and collectively reduce long-term mobility and quality of life for service members with extremity trauma. Current projects within this domain use comprehensive methodologies, both within and outside the laboratory, toward better understanding risk factors for the onset/recurrence of these conditions. Evaluating and optimizing the human-device interaction is a central theme of these efforts, which is a critical first step for guiding optimal intervention and mitigation strategies that maximize function and quality of life for service members with extremity trauma.
Duties:
Qualifications:
Who May Apply: US Citizens
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
Basic Requirement for Interdisciplinary GS-11:
Physiologist (Biomedical) - 0413 Series
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in one of the basic animal sciences or physiology; or a related discipline or field of science that included at least 24 semester hours in the basic animal sciences, of which 10 semester hours were in animal physiology.
Biomedical Engineer (Biomechanics) - 0858 Series
A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); 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
B. 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 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:
1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) 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.
2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.
4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, 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.
In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes, assisting in conducting research studies while identifying solutions for biomedical challenges associated with traumatic extremity injuries within the broad areas of bioengineering, physiology, or biological sciences; tracking records of publications in high impact peer reviewed scientific journals; and monitoring quality assurance methods in the area of bioengineering, physiology, or biological sciences. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09).
OR
Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Biomedical Engineering, Physiology, etc.
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.
This Biomedical Research Associate position will be filled as either a GS-0858-11 Biomedical Engineer (Biomechanics) or GS-0413-11 Physiologist (Biomedical).
This position is in the Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence (EACE), Research & Surveillance (R&S) Section, located at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, Maryland. The EACE R&S comprises interdisciplinary teams of basic, translational, and clinical scientists embedded across the Military Health System, with access to an unprecedented number and diversity of service members with extremity injuries. The EACE R&S teams work alongside front-line healthcare providers to better understand the breadth of medical challenges patients and military clinicians are experiencing. This unique opportunity allows us to deliver high-value research capabilities with access to state-of-the-art facilities that provide a full suite of equipment and resources. This combination makes the EACE R&S ideally suited to conduct a broad range of research activities, from foundational science experiments to large-scale clinical trials.
At WRNMMC, our local research portfolio focuses on maximizing long-term outcomes. Even with advances in surgical and rehabilitative care, as well as assistive technologies, secondary health conditions are exceedingly common following extremity trauma. In particular, musculoskeletal injuries (e.g., joint pain and degeneration) often develop or deteriorate over time, and collectively reduce long-term mobility and quality of life for service members with extremity trauma. Current projects within this domain use comprehensive methodologies, both within and outside the laboratory, toward better understanding risk factors for the onset/recurrence of these conditions. Evaluating and optimizing the human-device interaction is a central theme of these efforts, which is a critical first step for guiding optimal intervention and mitigation strategies that maximize function and quality of life for service members with extremity trauma.
Duties:
- Apply diversified knowledge of scientific practices and principles, and medical and biological knowledge to complex multi-disciplinary research projects aimed at furthering the clinical care of individuals with extremity trauma.
- Perform the full spectrum of research activities (e.g., subject recruitment, development and testing of employed methodologies, data collection, data analysis, etc.).
- Assist with overall study coordination, including completion of pre- and post-regulatory compliance activities and reports.
- Complete assigned research related projects, including literature reviews on scientific methodologies, assist with writing grant applications, the scheduling and monitoring of project timelines, and tracking system-wide metrics.
- Organize training on relevant research equipment and software to ensure safe and reliable operation by other laboratory personnel.
- Conduct research aimed at improving the function and quality of life for patients with traumatic extremity injuries
Qualifications:
Who May Apply: US Citizens
In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.
Basic Requirement for Interdisciplinary GS-11:
Physiologist (Biomedical) - 0413 Series
Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in one of the basic animal sciences or physiology; or a related discipline or field of science that included at least 24 semester hours in the basic animal sciences, of which 10 semester hours were in animal physiology.
Biomedical Engineer (Biomechanics) - 0858 Series
A. Degree: Bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in engineering. To be acceptable, the program must: (1) lead to a bachelor's degree (or higher degree) in a school of engineering with at least one program accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET); 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
B. 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 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:
1. Professional registration or licensure - Current registration as an Engineer Intern (EI), Engineer in Training (EIT), or licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE) 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.
2. Written Test - Evidence of having successfully passed the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination, or any other written test required for professional registration, by an engineering licensure board in the various States, the District of Columbia, Guam, or Puerto Rico.
3. Specified academic courses - Successful completion of at least 60 semester hours of courses in the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences and that included the courses specified in A above. The courses must be fully acceptable toward meeting the requirements of an engineering program.
4. Related curriculum - Successful completion of a curriculum leading to a bachelor's degree in an appropriate scientific field, e.g., engineering technology, 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.
In addition to meeting the basic requirement above, to qualify for this position you must also meet the qualification requirements listed below:
Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes, assisting in conducting research studies while identifying solutions for biomedical challenges associated with traumatic extremity injuries within the broad areas of bioengineering, physiology, or biological sciences; tracking records of publications in high impact peer reviewed scientific journals; and monitoring quality assurance methods in the area of bioengineering, physiology, or biological sciences. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the second lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-09).
OR
Education: Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree or 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree in a field which demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of the position, such as: Biomedical Engineering, Physiology, etc.
OR
Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide the total number of completed graduate semester hours (or equivalent) beyond the second year (total graduate semester hours minus 36) by 18. Add the two percentages.