Loyola University Chicago’s (LUC, https://www.luc.edu/) School of Environmental 
Sustainability (SES, https://www.luc.edu/sustainability/) invites applications 
for a full-time Laboratory Manager staff position beginning in March 2025. The 
SES seeks to diversify its staff and is particularly encouraging 
historically-marginalized minorities, women, and people with disabilities to 
apply. We are seeking candidates brimming with initiative to manage laboratory 
safety and compliance in two shared research labs and two shared teaching labs; 
support lab course maintenance, inventories, preparation, and clean up; and 
run, maintain, coordinate, and train others on the analytical instruments in 
these labs. Technical expertise in maintaining a chemical hygiene plan, 
chemical inventory management, laboratory safety training, and the use and 
maintenance of analytical instrumentation are required.  Experiential expertise 
in measurements of air, water, and soil chemistry including nutrients and 
pollutants are all desirable.  Preferred applicants will be motivated to 
advance the SES mission (https://www.luc.edu/sustainability/about/ourmission/).

Loyola University Chicago is committed to environmental sustainability, having 
recently attained carbon neutrality and otherwise transformed its campuses to 
meet energy, water, and waste efficiencies that have consistently ranked the 
University in the top 10% of green campuses nationally.  The School of 
Environmental Sustainability (SES) is the newest School at Loyola University 
Chicago, and is focused on education, research and the practice of 
environmental sustainability. The new SES currently serves over 400 
undergraduate and 105 graduate students and is housed within a state-of-the-art 
geothermally heated/cooled building complex containing a 3,100 sq ft 
greenhouse, two aquaponics facilities, a biodiesel production facility, 
teaching & research labs, an environmental analytical lab, and a green 
dormitory. The campus prioritizes sustainability with energy efficient LEED 
certified buildings, permeable pavement, green roof installations, and 
student-run urban gardens supplying area farmers markets, local businesses, and 
food pantries. The Loyola University Retreat & Ecology Campus (LUREC) has a 
20-acre wetland restoration project and is a venue for three-week summer field 
courses and for faculty and student research in sustainable agriculture, 
ecology, and wetland restoration. For more information about SES, please see 
our website (https://www.luc.edu/sustainability/).

Duties and Responsibilities
The School of Environmental Sustainability seeks an engaged and experienced 
Laboratory Manager to coordinate laboratory teaching activities and research in 
our shared teaching and research facilities including laboratory safety and 
compliance, maintaining analytical instrumentation, and training faculty and 
students on the use of analytical instruments. The position will report 
directly to the Dean and will work closely with research and teaching faculty. 
Specific duties of the position include:

Lab Safety and Compliance – Working directly with the office of the VP for 
Research to follow all laboratory safety protocols.  Enrolling all PIs and 
student researchers in annual lab safety training and refresher courses, 
monitoring laboratory activities for safety compliance, maintaining chemical 
and biohazardous materials inventories, managing hazmat waste inventories and 
scheduling waste pick-ups.  Reporting any problems or concerns to the Dean.

Analytical Instrumentation Maintenance – Maintenance, repair, calibration, and 
training on over $2.5M of analytical instruments shared by SES researchers for 
measuring nutrients, and organic contaminants in water, soil, and plant 
samples. Analytical instrumentation includes a Thermo Scientific HPLC-MS/MS, 
Agilent GC/MS, Metrohm Ion Chromatograph, Thermo Scientific Carbon Nitrogen 
Analyzer,  Shimadzu TOC analyzer, various scales, incubators, drying ovens and 
muffle furnaces.  The Laboratory Manager will manage the schedule and the use 
of shared instruments for classes and research.

Managing Shared Laboratory Space – managing shared research and shared teaching 
labs, keeping track of space utilization, facilitating the use of shared space 
most efficiently and effectively, implementing standard operating procedures 
for the use of shared space and instruments, organizing the flow of work in 
sample processing, maintaining order, cleanliness and safety in all 
laboratories.

Managing Teaching Labs – Collaborating with faculty to keep teaching labs clean 
and well organized, managing the refilling of consumable materials and 
supplies, keeping lab and field instruments in good working order with extra 
batteries, reagents, and glassware.  Conducting the ordering of supplies for 
all faculty using the teaching labs, keeping extra supplies inventoried and 
stored, and assisting faculty and their undergraduate lab assistants in lab 
prep and clean up.

Instrumentation-Use Training – Training of faculty, graduate and undergraduate 
students on the proper use of instruments in research and how to interpret 
results.  Conducting analysis of samples for SES faculty PIs and conducting 
demonstration laboratory analyses for some classes.

Managing Central Inventory – Establishing and maintaining a central inventory 
of chemicals, glassware, consumable supplies, commonly used equipment, safety 
equipment. Coordinating with other department lab managers to share equipment 
and supplies where appropriate and cost effective.

Formal Teaching – An option for this position, depending on the candidate’s 
qualifications, includes teaching an environmental chemistry course with a lab 
component for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

Preferred Qualifications
The successful candidate will be self directed and hold an advanced degree with 
3+ years’ experience or a BS degree with 5+ years’ experience. The degree will 
be in Analytical Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Chemistry, or a related 
field. The experience will encompass candidates who have occupied jobs with 
titles such as laboratory analytical chemist, environmental chemist, 
environmental chemistry research technician, teaching lab management, or 
similar. Importantly, the experience will have prepared the successful 
candidate to manage multiple spaces, multiple instruments, multiple people, and 
multiple timelines. In addition, the successful candidate must have 
demonstrated experience with laboratory safety and compliance.

The following soft skills are important for success in this position.
The successful candidate will have excellent organizational skills, record 
keeping and labeling skills, and written & spoken communication skills. They 
will be able to coordinate laboratory safety practices among multiple faculty 
and students who are using shared laboratory spaces. Additional soft skills 
possessed by the successful candidate include developing a service-oriented, 
helpful, professional and collaborative generosity in working relationships 
with people from across the SES’s and the University’s organizational 
structures (both vertically and horizontally) including students, faculty, 
staff, and University administrators.  In addition, the candidate will be a 
strong team player for SES, which requires both taking the lead in certain 
situations and following the lead in others. They will demonstrate reliability, 
professional conduct, a strong work ethic, and a genuine enthusiasm for high 
quality, safe research and teaching in environmental sustainability.

We will begin reviewing applications in mid-January 2025. Candidates can submit 
their applications here: https://www.careers.luc.edu/postings/30262

Required operation of university owned vehicles? NO
Does this position have budgetary accountabilities? NO
Does this position require direct animal or patient contact? NO
Physical demands? Lifting, carrying, standing
Computer Skills? Microsoft Office and proprietary software for analytical 
instruments
Reasoning Skills? Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, 
and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of 
technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several 
abstract and concrete variables.
Supervisory Responsibilities? NO
What department and positions are supervised by this position? No full or part 
time staff, however the position includes paid student workers to assist the 
Lab Manager.


To unsubscribe from this list please go to 
https://community.esa.org/confirm/?u=RhPWqPxFwODKvbkiT32nkIqRrsiSgulp

Reply via email to