Entry-level Economist

About the Role

RTI International seeks an entry-level economist to support environmental and natural resource economic research within the Center for Water, Agriculture, Natural Resources & Energy Solutions. The successful candidate will work with economists, engineers, and analysts to assess the economic and environmental effects of public policies, programs, and technologies. The position will support research and modeling for federal and state government clients, with an emphasis on agricultural and forestry markets, land use, energy, industry, air pollution impacts, and emissions mitigation. Under the guidance of senior staff, the economist will prepare and maintain datasets, assist with model updates and applications, analyze results, and contribute to technical documentation. The role offers opportunities to develop skills in applied economic modeling and reproducible research. This position is contingent upon successful project award.

Key Responsibilities

• Collect, clean, compile, and maintain economic, agricultural, forestry, energy, emissions, and technology cost data using Excel and reproducible scripts in R, Python, GAMS, or related software.
• Assist with preparing model inputs, updating parameters, and implementing documented code changes in established modeling frameworks under senior staff guidance. Depending on project assignments, these may include computable general equilibrium models, electric power sector models, agricultural and forestry models, and emissions projection and marginal abatement cost tools.
• Perform economic and statistical analyses to support emissions projections, marginal abatement cost curves, power sector generation projections, industry profiles, and assessments of regulatory costs and economic impacts.
• Support baseline, policy scenario, and sensitivity analyses by preparing run configurations, executing established model workflows, tracking assumptions and model versions, and organizing outputs.
• Process and compare model results, such as changes in production, prices, emissions, mitigation costs, and economic welfare. Prepare tables, charts, and other visualizations for technical review and reporting.
• Apply established quality assurance and quality control procedures to data, code, and results; review own work for accuracy and completeness; and flag unexpected results or data limitations for senior staff.
• Conduct literature reviews and summarize data sources, economic methods, technology assumptions, and environmental response relationships relevant to assigned analyses.
• Prepare portions of technical memoranda, reports, presentations, and model documentation. Maintain organized records of sources, calculations, code, assumptions, and reviewer comments to support reproducibility.
• Collaborate with project teams and external researchers, communicate progress and questions, and complete assignments within agreed scope, schedule, and budget. Consult the supervisor or project manager before changing task scope or schedule.
• Gather background information and draft proposal sections of limited technical complexity. Participate in relevant training, seminars, and research dissemination activities.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Experience collecting, organizing, cleaning, and analyzing data through coursework, research, internships, or employment.
• Ability to combine datasets, identify inconsistencies or missing information, and prepare data for analysis.
• Experience using Excel or other analytical software to summarize data, examine patterns, and prepare tables and graphics.
• Ability to check results for accuracy and clearly document data sources and analytical steps.
• Willingness to learn new software and analytical methods with guidance from senior staff.
• Demonstrated interest in environmental, agricultural, forestry, energy, or natural resource economics and public policy.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work well with others, manage assigned priorities, and complete defined tasks with guidance.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Ability to obtain appropriate security clearances as required by applicable contracts.
• Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States and should not require, now or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in economics, environmental or natural resource economics, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, or a related field.
• Coursework or project experience in agricultural, forestry, environmental, natural resource, or energy economics.
• Familiarity with R, Python, Stata, SAS, GAMS, or similar analytical software.
• Exposure to mathematical optimization, including linear programming, through coursework or applied projects.
• Familiarity with partial or general equilibrium models, emissions projections, or marginal abatement cost analysis.
• Experience using Git or GitHub, writing reusable analytical scripts, or developing reproducible reports and visualizations in R Markdown, Quarto, R Shiny, Tableau, or similar tools.
• Experience working with geospatial data or public datasets such as USDA agricultural statistics, Forest Inventory and Analysis data, EPA emissions inventories, or energy statistics.