Research Assistant (Remote - Part-Time)

Solstice Initiative

Job Description

Term: Part time (20-30 hours a week), 12 weeks, roughly September-December 
Compensation: $25-30/hour 
Application Deadline: August 18th, 2022 
Location: Remote (Must live or study in Massachusetts)

Solstice Initiative is an innovative nonprofit working to democratize clean energy. Our mission is to empower traditionally-excluded communities towards a just and inclusive clean energy transition through accessible and affordable community solar projects, research and innovation, and state-based policy solutions. We work with local stakeholders and organizers to facilitate conversations around solar energy and plan projects that will bring increased workforce development opportunities, environmental health benefits, and wealth-building opportunities to local low-income residents. 

We are looking for an Research Assistant to help support our research project on low-income community solar. Reporting to the Research Project Manager, The Research Assistant will support our study with the Department of Energy focused on understanding how to make community solar more valuable and accessible for low- to moderate-income communities and communities of color. This far-reaching study incorporates input from community members and industry players across eight states on the opportunities and barriers related to adapting community solar products to better meet the needs of LMI and BIPOC communities.

Position Overview:
The Research Assistant will support all aspects of the  third-phase of our Product Innovation to Increase Low-to-Moderate-Income Customers’ Adoption of Community Solar PV project with the Department of Energy. This will include synthesizing the findings of this research and communicating the impact of this work through webinars, articles, and a peer-reviewed publication. This role is a part-time, time limited term position that will end at the conclusion of the project in December, 2022. Responsibilities will include:

Manuscript Support 
  • Work with Data Scientist to support data analysis and data visualization efforts for a manuscript for submission to a clean energy journal
  • Review existing analyses, providing summary statistics along with assistance in drafting results for both technical and non-technical audiences. 
  • Update literature review to reflect related research on low-income community solar 

Other Research Dissemination Support
  • Work with Research Project Manager to create data visualizations for research dissemination efforts to several stakeholders including policy-makers, community members, community solar developers, and other clean energy organizations. 
  • Work with Research Project Manager on writing and editing short articles to disseminate findings to different audiences 
  • Create web-friendly data visualizations for website 
  • Collaborate with Research Project Manager and Program staff on content creation for website 


Required Qualifications:
  • Experience conducting qualitative and quantitative research in the social justice, environmental, policy, energy, economic, or other human-centered discipline
  • Strong writing skills, and specifically experience in writing about statistical modeling 
  • Experience with statistical softwares, such as R, Python or Stata. 
  • Willingness to work within equitable and inclusive frameworks and actively engage in ongoing learning about these frameworks within the mission of Solstice. 
  • ** Due to funding limitations we can only accept candidates who live or study in Massachusetts**
  • Eligibility: In order to apply, please first register with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center here


Preferred Qualifications:
  • Demonstrated technical writing abilities in academic or professional settings 
  • Project management experience 
  • Proficiency in Tableau, Plotly, or other data visualization tools
  • Experience working in the clean energy field
  • Experience working with communities traditionally excluded from the clean energy space (low-income, BIPoC, frontline communities)


As a Research Assistant You Will Gain:
  • Access to a network of stakeholders across the community solar and energy justice fields
  • An understanding of rapidly growing community solar and renewable energy space

If interested in the position please apply via https://apply.workable.com/solstice-2/j/E191281276/. The application deadline is August 18, 2022. To be considered for this position, applicants must submit a cover letter and resume.