Assistant Professor (TT) - Chemical Engineering (Multiple Positions)

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 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. UMass Amherst maintains a nationally recognized NSF-sponsored ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program that seeks to increase equity in STEM fields through collaboration (). For more information on work-life balance at UMass Amherst, see

Job Description:

The Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst invites applications for two tenure-track faculty positions at the Assistant Professor rank. Individuals with all research directions within Chemical Engineering will be considered. The first position focuses on experimental or computational research in energy-related fields, for example energy storage, catalytic or non-catalytic processes, sustainability, advanced materials, green chemistry, biomanufacturing, and biomolecular engineering. The second position focuses on computational modeling and simulation in any area of chemical engineering, including machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Additional possible research directions include, but are not limited to, reaction engineering, fluid mechanics, separations, and transport processes.

Successful candidates are expected to teach existing graduate and undergraduate courses in Chemical Engineering and will be encouraged to develop creative new curricula in areas of their interest or across disciplines.

The Department of Chemical Engineering currently has 17 full-time, tenure track faculty members, approximately 81 graduate students, and 178 undergraduates. The department's FY 22 research expenditures exceeded $5.1 million. Additional information about the Department can be obtained at .

Requirements:

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering or a related field, an outstanding record of research accomplishments, and commitment to excellence in teaching and research. Faculty members are expected to teach both undergraduate and graduate courses, supervise undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, contribute significantly to the advancement of basic science and engineering as evidenced by scholarly publications, develop a nationally and internationally recognized program of sponsored research and support diversity and inclusivity in their scholarly activities. The successful candidate will be responsible for establishing and maintaining a program of externally funded research. We expect the successful candidate to be committed to working within a diverse community of students and faculty and to pursue interdisciplinary research collaborations within the department and throughout the campus. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Application Instructions:

Candidates must provide the following in their application package. Applications will be reviewed starting on November 15, 2023 and reviewed until the search is completed. All files must be provided in .pdf format.

1. a) A cover letter that introduces yourself, b) briefly describes your research interests, and c) describes your vision for this position. Page limit: 1 page
2. A statement of research outlining your accomplishments, focusing on your future plans and potential fit at Chemical Engineering Department at UMass Amherst. Page limit: 5 pages
3. A teaching statement including your teaching philosophy and potential courses you might offer at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Page limit: 1 page
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 (). Page limit: 2 pages
5. A current curriculum vitae. The CV should include: 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. Three recent representative research publications.
7. Contact information, (name, title, email address, institution) for 3 professional references. References will not be contacted until the second phase of the search.

Process

The steps of the process are as follows:

• A minimally qualified pool is identified from the applicants, ideally by the end of January 2024.
• All remaining candidates are evaluated and a "long list" is identified, which will 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.
• A "shortlist" is developed from the long list, and these candidates will be invited to interview on campus. We anticipate interviews on campus to begin in February 2024.

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.