Director, Minerals Sustainability (Interdisciplinary Supervisory General Engineer / Physical Scientist)

About The Position

Duties/Description

The position is located in the Division of Minerals Sustainability, Office of Research and Development within the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Resource Sustainability. The Office of Research and Development advances technologies and solutions to reduce the environmental impacts and emissions associated with fossil energy development, use, transportation, and storage. This includes reducing emissions in the production, transportation, and storage of oil and natural gas; developing advanced remediation technologies for produced water, abandoned mines, abandoned wells, and the conversion of methane to useful products; and improving the economics and environmental performance of critical minerals extraction, processing, use, and disposal in support of a clean energy and circular economy.

FECM’s Minerals Sustainability Division (MSD) works with the broader DOE and US government agencies (e.g., DOD, USGS, EPA) and the private sector to accelerate the establishment of critical minerals and material supply chains, with a particular focus on production from unconventional and secondary sources. These include legacy byproducts from fossil energy use (e.g., coal ash and refuse), acid mine drainage, and produced waters from natural gas and oil operations, as well as the development of technologies to use the carbon from coal, coal byproduct, and coal waste feedstocks to produce valuable products for clean energy and circular economies. The program’s research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) focuses on the development of novel and advanced technologies to enable cost effective and sustainable extraction of rare earth elements and other critical minerals from unconventional and secondary sources. The RDD&D efforts advance environmentally benign and economically efficient recovery and processing, including exploration, extraction, purification, reduction, refining, and alloying techniques and technologies. These processes produce high-purity critical minerals, including rare earth metals, and facilitate manufacturing of high value carbon products, advancing technology development from applied basic research through pilot and demonstrations towards commercialization. MSD also works with others to identify and develop standards, certificates, etc. for critical minerals production, across the supply chain.

The incumbent serves as the Director, Division of Minerals Sustainability. The Director is charged with managing and facilitating interdisciplinary cutting-edge research and development in efficient and cost- effective technology to meet energy and environmental requirements domestically and internationally. The work requires monitoring research and development efforts and public policy efforts to present high level analysis of research and development to senior level managers, providing timely updates to senior management, and collaborating with researchers, end users, and other senior level program participants and stakeholders.