MM CAREERS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admini»f^f>nST/l^ s If you wish to apply for a position with NOAA, or you wish additional information about specific career areas, you may contact the appropriate Personnel Office. If you already have eligibility from the Office of Personnel Management for Federal employment, you may submit a Personal Qualifica- tions Statement (SF-171). A list of NOAA Personnel Offices is provided in this brochure. If you do not have Civil Service eligibility for Federal employment, you should contact the Area Office of the Office of Personnel Management nearest you regarding announcements in line with your education and employment interest, and proper filing proce- dures. The majority of applicants for Federal employment must be rated by the Office of Personnel Manage- ment. The Office of Personnel Management admin- isters written examinations and/or experience and education evaluations, and issues a written verifica- tion that the applicant has met the requirements for a particular position category. When you have received eligibility, the Office of Personnel Man- agement will retain your application, which is filed in a competitive inventory, for referral to NOAA and other Federal agencies seeking the best qualified candidates to fill existing vacancies. Personnel Offices Chief, Personnel Division 632 6th Avenue Anchorage, AK 99501 FTS 8-399-01 50 (206) 442-01 50 (Seattle Operator) give operator 265-4724 Chief, Personnel Branch NOAA — Atlantic Marine Center 439 W. York Street Norfolk, VA 23510 FTS 8-827-6231 (804)441-6231 Chief, Personnel Services NOAA-ERL, 3001 Marine Boulder, CO 80302 FTS 8-323-6305 (303) 499-1000 (operator) ext. 6305 Chief, Personnel Division NWS — Western Region 125 South State Street Federal Building Salt Lake City, UT 84111 FTS 8-588-51 28 (4010) (801)524-5128 *- Chief, Personnel Section 8" NWS— Southern Region «-• Room 10E09, 81 9 Taylor Street fc- Fort Worth, TX 76102 2 FTS 8-334-2663 (817)334-2663 Chief, Personnel Section •41 National Climatic Center — EDIS Federal Building Asheville, NC 28801 FTS 8-672-0267 (704) 258-2850 ext. 267 Director, Office of Personnel NOAA— Headquarters Personnel 5640 Nicholson Lane, Room 319 Rockville, Maryland 20852 (301)443-8425 Chief, Personnel Branch NWS— Pacific Region Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniahaole Federal Bldg., 300 Ala Moana, Rm. 41 1 Honolulu, HI 96850 FTS 8-556-0220 (41 5) 556-0220 (San Fran operator) ask for Honolulu (808) 546-5679 Chief, Personnel Division NMFS— Southeast Region 9450 Koger Boulevard, Duval Building St. Petersburg, FL 33702 FTS 8-826-31 57 (813)893-3157 Chief, Personnel Section NWS— Eastern Region 585 Stewart Avenue Garden City, NY 11530 FTS 8-665-8670 (212)995-8670 Chief, Personnel Division NASO 1 700 Westlake Avenue, North Seattle, WA 98109 FTS 8-399-5790 (206) 442-5790 Chief, Personnel Division NMFS — Northeast Region Federal Building 14 Elm Street Gloucester, MA 01930 FTS 8-837-9240 (617)281-3600 Chief, Personnel Division NWS— Central Region Room 1836, 601 E 12th Street Kansas City, MO 64106 FTS 8-758-3196 (316)374-3196 Chief, Personnel Branch NOS — Personnel 6001 Executive Boulevard Rockville, Maryland 20852 (301)443-8186 Chief, Personnel Branch NWS/NESS— Personnel 8060 13th Street, Room 1221 Silver Spring, MD 20910 (301)427-7924 Chief, Personnel Branch NMFS/EDIS— Personnel 21 00 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Page Bldg. 2, Room 299 Washington, D.C. 20235 (202) 634-7357 NOAA, created within the Department of Commerce in October 1 970, was formed to improve people's understanding and use of their physical environment and oceanic resources in orderto preserve and improve thequality of their life. Through its Major Line Components — Fisheries, Coastal Zone Management, Research and Development, and Oceanic and Atmospheric Services — NOAA carries out broad programs of research and service in all of the environmental sciences. NOAA is a multi-faceted agency comprised of the following Major Program Elements: Office of Sea Grant Office of Ocean Engineering Environmental Research Laboratories Environmental Data Information Service National Environmental Satellite Service National Ocean Survey National Weather Service National Marine Fisheries Service All of these program elements have headquarters in Metropolitan Washington, DC with one exception. Boulder, Colorado is headquarters for the Environmental Research Laboratories. Field forces — personnel assigned to fisheries laboratories, communication centers, research facilities, ship bases, mobile survey teams, and research and photograhic air missions — constitute the largest part of NOAA's staff and are distributed throughout the United States and in selected foreign areas. Meteorologists at NOAA analyze weather data gathered by satellites, radiosondes, and extensive networks of instrumented stations to prepare a variety of weather forecasts for the general public and for specialized groups such as aviators, mariners, and farmers. Research meteorologists are engaged in atmospheric physics research, investigating relationships between various meteorological events at all scales, extending and refining existing theory, and improving the precision of mathematical models of atmospheric processes. They are also studying severe storms mechanics, and the feasibility of weather modification. They participate in studies which seek to use new observational, computational, and analytical technology in weather prediction, and contribute to development of new meteorological instruments — such as the NOAA satellite system. Where they are concerned with weather in a historical sense, meteorologists work as climatologists, collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and summarizing past weather information for locations all over the world. Meteorologists are assigned in the National Weather Service, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Environmental Satellite Service and Environmental Data Information Service. They serve in some 300 Weather Service Offices in cities across the land, at airport weather stations, in state climatological offices, or in one of NOAA's research laboratories. They also serve aboard ships, participating with NOAA's oceanographers and geophysicists in ocean-environment research. Hydrologists at NOAA are concerned with floods and flood forecasting, river flow analysis, and supporting research in related areas. River forecast stations are located in the major river basins, and issue flood forecasts and warnings as required. On the research side, NOAA hydrologists seek to improve their comprehension of the hydrologic cycle — the movement of water between the earth, oceans, and atmosphere — and to develop new computer applications for hydrologic projects. Jobs are primarily with the National Weather Service. Fishery Biologists study the problems of growth and reproduction of fish and shellfish, attack the problems of disease, and identify and study subdivisions of oceanic stock. To carry out this research, NOAA's fishery biologists study the life history, habits, classification, and economic relations of aquatic organisms to ensure an adequate and dependable supply of fish and shellfish, and the conservation and growth of the fishing industry. They study the effects of environmental and man-made changes on fish, determine rearing and planting for maximum success in hatchery operations, and devise ways to regulate fishing to ensure a continuing maximum yield. Specialization is often possible in such fields as embryology, histology, physiology, serology, and virology. NOAA's fishery biologists work primarily in the National Marine Fisheries Service. Physicists at NOAA participate in basic and applied research over the entire range of environmental science. Their work may be basic research in rock fracture mechanics, or they may work in a more general area, for example, large-scale atmospheric circulations. They may be involved in theoretical studies or they may work on the practical side, relating theoretical studies to a particular industry, user group, or agency investigation. They may also contribute to essentially developmental projects, as in the case of new environmental sensors and other necessary instruments. They forecast solar phenomena or the state of the upper atmosphere. They also study the physical characteristics of the earth, the oceans, or the ocean floor. Jobs are primarily with the Environmental Research Laboratories. Geodesists are concerned with determining the precise size and shape of the earth and the location of points on its surface. Part of this work involves development and maintenance of the precise geodetic network which spans the continent; this is accomplished by survey teams in the field, and by office geodesists and mathematicians at NOAA headquarters. Gravity surveys and theoretical studies are also part of a geodesist's work with NOAA's National Ocean Survey and Environmental Research Laboratories. Engineers at NOAA find challenging assignments across the full range of environmental science and service activities. General, electrical, electronic, and mechanical engineers develop instrumeniation and equipment used in NOAA's investigation of the physical environment. Engineers develop advanced equipment for underwater measurements, such as the stable underwater platform for marine magnetic measurements, and also formulate requirements for new mechanical and instrument systems. NOAA engineers develop new environmental satellite sensors, shipboard data and navigational equipment, geodetic distance-measuring devices, meteorological instruments, infrared applications, and telemetry devices. Civil engineers with field teams conduct precise geodetic surveys, astronomic observations, photogrammetric control, and related operations throughout NOAA. Mathematicians use their training in virtually every phase of NOAA activities, an indication of the trend toward automation — and away from drudgery — in environmental sciences. NOAA mathematicians work as computer programmers, develop computer applications to weather and sea state forecasting, perform geodetic computations, process geophysical, meteorological, and oceanographic data, and participate in mathematics research throughout NOAA. Cartographers construct the aeronautical and nautical charts of NOAA's National Ocean Survey, to the Survey's high standards of accuracy. They also develop maps of earthquake areas, bathymetric charts, and other cartographic products, working in fixed locations and with mobile teams or ships in the field. NOAA cartographers also perform professional work in photo- interpretation, analytic photogrammetry, and aerotriangulation. Chemists work primarily in NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service and carry out research to develop new and better fish products for food and industrial uses. NOAA's chemists also investigate methods to improve the handling, processing, preserving and distribution of fish, fish products, and shellfish. They may also develop information on sanitation measures and requirements for standards to be set by the Federal Government for fishery products. Jobs are with the National Marine Fisheries Service. Oceanographers are scientists whose interests are primarily with the global ocean — its physical properties and dynamics (the circulation of currents of the waters), its interaction with the air and land; its chemical composition; the contours, structure or composition of the ocean floor; and the habits and interrelationships of the plants and animals that inhabit the levels of the sea. The work of NOAA's oceanographers covers an exciting variety of scientific activities, including the study of tsunamis (sea waves), the development of new underwater sensors, and the establishment of data systems that will achieve maximum use of their output, the study of tidal and current variations, the compilation of special bathymetric charts as part of the Nation's ocean survey (SEAMAP) program, the study of the marine environment and its effect on the distribution and abundance of commercially valuable fish, and the development of oceanographic models that help to monitor changes in the marine environment, the development and production of computer displays of oceanographic variables, and participation in national and international exploratory programs. NOAA's oceanographers are located in the National Ocean Survey, the Environmental Research Laboratories, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Environmental Data Information Service. Computer Scientists are involved in all facets of NOAA's scientific mission, working in close interrelationship with every scientific discipline to provide the most coherent view possible of the physical world by organizing, statistically analyzing, archiving, and disseminating day-to-day, month-to-month, and year-to-year environmental data gathered from ships, land stations, aircraft, buoys, and satellites. The largest computers in the world are used for modeling weather and oceanic phenomena throughout NOAA. Enforcement Agents (Fishery) work in the National Marine Fisheries Service and are charged with enforcing domestic fisheries regulations under the international fisheries agreements to which the United States is a party. This involves monitoring compliance by foreign fishing vessels in the contiguous fishing zone and territorial waters — enforcing the 200 mile limit and U.S. statutes prohibiting possession or importation of illegally taken fish and wildlife — and the surveillance of foreign fishing operations to ensure compliance with the provisions of various treaties and agreements to which the United States is a party. These agents utilize a combination of Biology and Law Enforcement backgrounds. NOAA Corps, a vital part of NOAA's scientific team, is one of the Nation's seven uniformed services. It provides a select number of engineering and science graduates the opportunity to combine a career in the environmental sciences with service to their country as commissioned officers. Grade structure is identical to the Navy and Coast Guard: NOAA officers follow a similar career pattern combining sea duty with mobile and fixed shore duty at NOAA installations. General questions on the NOAA Corps should be directed to the appropriate NOAA office listed below: NOAA Corps Recruiting Officer NOAA Officer Training Center FurusethHall N-120 U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point. NY 11024 (516)482-8200 Ext. 360 NOAA Corps Recruiting Officer Pacific Marine Center National Ocean Survey, NOAA 1801 Fairview Avenue, East Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 442-7656 NOAA Corps Recruiting Officer Environmental Research Laboratories (R58) Boulder, CO 80302 (303) 449-6546 Recruiting Officer Commissioned Personnel Division NOAA(NC1) Rockville, MD 20852 (301)443-8616 Graduate Scientist is a one year full-time university study program for graduates with a Bachelors or Masters degree in a scientific discipline who lack scientific training in a specific NOAA discipline (e.g., a physics major who lacks hours in meteorology in order to qualify as a meteorologist or a biology major who needs training in a fishery specialty to qualify as a Fishery Biologist). Selectees will enter this program in grades 4 through 7 and undergo intensive training to qualify for and be assigned into the appropriate scientific discipline. Information concerning this program may be obtained from the Upward Mobility Branch, Rockville, MD 20852. Cooperative Education is a program in NOAA whereby students alternate periods of planned full-time work experience with periods of full-time academic study to prepare for a permanent career in NOAA. The program is designed for two-year, four-year and graduate students. Students should apply through their school co-op offices. In addition to careers in science and engineering, limited administrative careers exist in NOAA for graduates in Business Administration in accounting, finance, personnel management, and other administrative areas. Opportunities for advancement exist in NOAA for those employees who exhibit initiative, ability, and willingness to take on additional responsibility. NOAA does have other scientific training programs available which are designed to develop applicants for positions as technicians and professionals in science and technology. Information concerning these programs may be obtained from the Office of Personnel, Special Personnel Programs Division, Rockville, MD 20852. As we cross the threshold of a new exploratory age, as our grasp moves toward other planets and the stars, our great preoccupation turns increasingly homeward, to "Spaceship Earth", the garden of life in what may turn out to be a barren solar system. To those whose talents and imaginations are engaged by large unknowns, this planet presents an infinity of processes and interactions linking life and the physical world, and human generated depredations with planetary survival. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a leader in the national effort to comprehend these relationships and to improve our uses of the physical environment and oceanic life. The NOAA family measures processes within the global ocean, study interactions among sea and land and sea and atmosphere, and map the geophysical structure and resources of the ocean floor. We describe and conserve the living resources of the sea, seek to develop new ones, and link the responses of marine life to environmental changes. We survey the varied faces of the continents and the effects of solar radiation on the earth and near-earth environment. We monitor and predict conditions in the atmosphere and ocean, and issue timely warnings against such destructive natural events as hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, tsunamis, and floods, and the potentially disruptive environmental changes which occurover decades, generations, and centuries. We are learning how to modify the environment, constructively and destructively, deliberately and inadvertently, and we are applying this knowledge to the benefit of the Nation and humankind. It is work on a global scale, over a broad range of earth-looking disciplines, using as tools a mix of artificial satellites, instrumented aircraft, research ships, automated sensor stations, laboratories, and giant computers. For those who qualify, it is a singular opportunity to excel. PE 7 1 fJ, A ,Tf," N , IVER SITY LIBRARIES Vacations: Each year, depending upon their length of service, employees earn from 13 to 26 days of annual leave for vacation. Active military service in most cases counts as civilian service. Holidays: Employees are given nine national holidays each year: New Year's Day, Washington's Birthday, Me- morial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Colum- bus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. Other Leave: Sick Leave: Each year employees earn 1 3 days sick leave to be used for illness or medical, dental, or optical appointments. Unused sick leave accu- mulates without limit, and provides employees with excellent financial protection for periods of pro- longed illness or injury. Military Leave: Members of the National Guard or of the Armed Forces Reserves are entitled to military leave for training or other active duty. A maximum of 1 5 calendar days is allowed each year with full pay and without charge against other types of leave. Education and Training NOAA employees are encouraged to further their education and training. They may be assigned at full pay to a university for full-time graduate work or other advanced study related to their duties. Fees and travel expenses are also provided for approved attendance at professional conferences, conven- tions, and seminars. NOAA also pays tuition for all part-time college courses approved for employees. AQDDD7B03ama Life Insurance: Group Life Insurance is available at a cost of only 25 1 /2 each two weeks for every $1 ,000 of insurance. The amount of regular insurance depends on the employee's basic annual pay. If an employee has the regular insurance, the employee may also elect optional insurance in the amount of $1 0,000. The cost depends on the employee's age. Health Insurance: Several Group Health Insurance plans are available to full-time employees that include Hospital, Surgical, and other related benefits. The cost of insurance and other benefits depends on the type of plan selected and the coverage desired. The Federal Government will pay up to 60 percent of the cost of health insurance. Medical Compensation Benefits: Any employee receiving an on-the-job injury or service-connected illness is entitled to medical atten- tion, hospitalization and compensation free of charge. Compensation payments are at least two- thirds of an employee's salary. Retirement System: One of the outstanding advantages of NOAA em- ployment is the model Federal Civil Service Retire- ment System. It provides for liberal annuities based on a combination of average salary and length of service. Travel and Moving Expense: NOAA pays travel and moving expenses to the first duty station for most scientific positions. These expenses are paid for all employees when they are required to change duty station. ^^^^ NOAA/ PA 70032 (Rev. December 1978) NOAA follows a policy of equal opportunity in recruitment, training, promotion, and all other aspects of employment for all employees, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, or handicap. The Office of Civil Rights enforces these provisions. If you feel there has been any discrimination shown in your interview or any aspect of your application procedure, contact, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 6001 Executive Blvd., Rockville, MD 20852, (301)443-8247.