Job no: 516179
Work type: Faculty Full Time
Location: UMass Amherst
Department: Elect & Computer Engineering
Union: MSP
Categories: Faculty, College of Engineering

About UMass Amherst

UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.

As a campus with an increasingly diverse student body, we are looking for candidates who can operate effectively in a diverse faculty and student community, and who value collegiality, collaboration, achievement, and integrity. We encourage applications from women, minorities, and individuals with a commitment to mentor under-represented demographics within engineering. We are also interested in candidates who have had non-traditional career paths, those who have paused their careers for family or pandemic reasons, or who spent time outside of academia. We are committed to helping all constituents reach their full potential, creating best-in-practice operations to support faculty scholarship and fostering excellence in student experiences inside and outside our department.

UMass Amherst is a leader in providing institutional supports for faculty to combine work and family/personal responsibilities, and was listed among the Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great Colleges to Work For,” UMass is in the top 10% of public research-intensive universities in the COACHE survey for making having and raising children compatible with the tenure-track. For more information on work-life balance at UMass Amherst, see https://www.umass.edu/prospective-faculty/work/balance

Job Description

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position at the assistant professor level in the broad area of Quantum Information Systems and Applications. The appointment is expected to begin September 1, 2023.

The position is defined broadly across the entire scope of quantum information. Scholars working across disciplines or in nontraditional areas of quantum systems and their applications are particularly encouraged. Expertise in quantum hardware and fundamental qubit technology in any current qubit modality including but not limited to: photonic qubits, superconducting qubits, spin qubits and quantum dots. This will allow the new faculty to work on many applications for quantum computing, quantum networking, quantum communications and quantum sensing.

Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to:

We hope this broad category reflects our openness to expand the scope of our department beyond our traditional strengths. The new faculty will be expected to complement the existing strengths in the department, with the opportunity to join a campus-wide initiative in quantum information systems.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has 36 full-time, tenure track faculty members and approximately 350 graduate students and 600 undergraduates. The department’s FY 21 research expenditures exceeded $7 million. Additional information about the Department can be obtained at ece.umass.edu.

Requirements

Applicants must have earned a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering or related field at the time of appointment. They must possess excellent experimental skills and a deep theoretical background of fundamental challenges in quantum computing and information processing. Applicants must also demonstrate potential for scholarly excellence and developing an externally-funded research program, and the successful candidate will be expected to maintain an internationally recognized scholarly presence. Candidates will also be expected to teach existing undergraduate and graduate courses and will be encouraged to develop creative new curricula in areas of their interest or across disciplines.

Additional Information

The steps of the process are as follows:

• A minimally qualified pool is identified from the applicants, ideally by the end of December 2022.
• All remaining candidates are evaluated and a “long list” is identified, which may be interviewed via video conference. Candidates invited to these interviews will be emailed at least one week before the scheduled date.
• For candidates advancing to the long list: references will be contacted, and candidates will have an opportunity to submit 1or 2 representative scholarly works.

Application Instructions

Candidates must provide the following in their application package addressed to “QIS Search Committee.” Applications will be reviewed starting on December 5, 2022 and reviewed until the search is completed. All files must be provided in .pdf format.

1. A cover letter, addressed to “QIS Search Committee”. The cover letter should a) introduce yourself, b) briefly describe your research interests, and c) describe your vision for this position.
2. A research statement. Candidates should situate their past research in a broader scholarly context and give their research vision for this position. Candidates are specifically asked to mention the types of scholarship they will perform, how that scholarship will be disseminated, and the expectation for how that scholarship will be funded. Statements will be evaluated based on assessment of demonstrated excellence or demonstrated promise of future excellence.
3. A teaching statement. Candidates should describe their past teaching experience and express their teaching vision for this position. Candidates are specifically asked to mention existing courses in ECE they are qualified to offer and also mention classes they are interested in developing. Candidates should address both undergraduate and graduate classes. Statements will be evaluated based on assessment of demonstrated excellence or demonstrated promise of future excellence.
4. A statement of vision for the candidate’s role in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Candidates should list past and planned future actions to support the diversity mission of the College of Engineering and UMass.
5. A current curriculum vitae. The CV should be ordered as follows: 1) education, 2) employment, 3) awards and honors, 4) sponsored research (if any), 5) peer reviewed publications, 6) service, and 7) other sections as considered appropriate by the candidate.
6. Contact information, (name, title, email address, institution) for three (3) professional references. References will not be contacted until the second phase of the search.

The University is committed to active recruitment of a diverse faculty and student body. The University of Massachusetts Amherst is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer of women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities and encourages applications from these and other protected group members. Because broad diversity is essential to an inclusive climate and critical to the University’s goals of achieving excellence in all areas, we will holistically assess the many qualifications of each applicant and favorably consider an individual’s record working with students and colleagues with broadly diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds in educational, research or other work activities. We will also favorably consider experience overcoming or helping others overcome barriers to an academic career and degree.

Advertised: Oct 7 2022 Eastern Daylight Time
Applications close: