EPIC Pre-Doctoral Fellowships

The Energy Policy Institute at Chicago (EPIC) invites applications for full-time pre-doctoral
fellows for the academic year 2019-20. An interdisciplinary research and training center at the University of Chicago, EPIC is contributing innovative solutions to the global energy challenge: how can we ensure that people around the world, today and in the future, have access to reliable, affordable energy needed for human development without putting our health, environment and climate at risk? Previous results from EPIC projects have been influential with policymakers worldwide and featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and other leading publications.

The Climate Impact Lab’s team of economists, climate scientists, data engineers, and risk analysts
are building the world’s most comprehensive body of research quantifying the impacts of climate
change sector-by-sector, community-by-community around the world. This research will allow
decision- makers in the public and private sectors to understand the risks climate change presents
and mitigate those risks through smarter investments and public policy. The research will also
produce the world’s first empirically-derived estimate of the social cost of carbon — the cost to
society from each ton of carbon dioxide emitted. This figure can serve as the basis for energy and
climate policies.
Successful candidates will work with the Climate Impact Lab under the direction of Michael
Greenstone. Responsibilities span all stages of research, including managing projects, collecting
and analyzing data, creating presentations, and editing manuscripts. Typical research projects
involve the analysis of environmental and energy data from the United States, India, China, and
other countries utilizing quasi-experimental and experimental methods, as well as development of
computational economic models of energy markets. In addition to working closely with faculty as
research assistants, pre-doctoral fellows typically attend classes and seminars at EPIC, the
University of Chicago, and affiliate institutions.

The program is intended to serve as a bridge between college and graduate school for students
interested in empirical economics. People in this or similar positions have gone on to Economics
Ph.D. programs at Harvard, MIT, University of Chicago, University of California, Berkeley, and
similar schools upon completion of this program.

Applications for the fellowship are reviewed in fall and winter cycles. The fall deadline is
November 18th, with final decisions made around December 15th. The winter deadline is February 15th, with final decisions made around March 8th. To apply, please visit
https://www.epicpredoctoralfellowship.com.

Applicants must have completed a Bachelors or Master’s degree by June 2019 and have strong
quantitative and programming skills. Candidates with research experience are strongly preferred,
especially those with experience in Stata, R, Python or Matlab. The ideal candidate would begin on
June 1, 2019 and work for EPIC for one or two years before applying to graduate school in Economics or another quantitative social science. EPIC offers competitive salary and employee benefits.