Ast/Aso Professor-Wetlands

Position Announcement – Assistant or Associate Professor
Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment
University of Florida (http://www.essie.ufl.edu)

The new Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment (ESSIE) at the University of Florida will be filling 7-9 faculty positions in various areas in the next two years and invites applications for a tenure track faculty position at the Assistant or Associate Professor level to support its sustainable environment initiative and to augment existing faculty in aquatic, wetlands, and systems ecology. Candidates are expected to hold a doctoral degree in an appropriate field of science or engineering.

We seek interdisciplinary scientists and engineers with a passion for understanding the coupling of human and natural systems and with strong backgrounds in estuarine sciences, wetlands/ aquatic ecology and sciences, biogeochemistry, systems ecology, or other related areas. The successful individual will join the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, a unit of the newly formed Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment. Additionally, the new hire will be closely aligned with, and have the opportunity to guide growth and development of the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands, an enduring center of excellence in wetlands and ecosystem research and education. Principal responsibilities of the successful applicant will include graduate and undergraduate teaching, establishment of a strong externally funded research program, and development of active collaborations with other faculty and research partners, creating synergy both inside and outside the University of Florida.

ESSIE is the nexus where civil, environmental, and coastal and oceanographic faculty come together to solve unique problems of sustainability. We have strong teaching and research programs and are committed to establishing a world-class systems ecology & ecological engineering program. The School is home to the Departments of Civil and Coastal Engineering and Environmental Engineering Sciences. In addition, it encompasses seven research centers and institutes: the Center for Environmental Policy, Center for Multimodal Solutions for Congestion Mitigation, the Howard T. Odum Center for Wetlands, Center for Infrastructure Protection and Physical Security, Transportation Research Center, Water Resources Research Center, and the Bridge Software Institute.

ESSIE is investing to ensure the success of their new faculty. By August 2013, we expect approximately 20% of our faculty to be assistant Professors. ESSIE is designed to foster collaboration between its faculty and those across campus. The new hires will join a dynamic, cross-disciplinary group of researchers, and will have ample opportunities for collaborations, both within their research field and with interdisciplinary teams. Instilling excellence in teaching, research, leadership, innovation, and entrepreneurship are ESSIE’s highest priorities. A growing number of our undergraduate and graduate students are participating in a College-wide initiative to foster concomitant training in entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership skills in engineering. We have five NSF CAREER awardees, and almost 50% of our faculty members are past recipients of College, University, or National awards recognizing excellence in teaching and mentoring.

State-of-the-art laboratory and facilities for teaching and research include 89,000 square feet of existing laboratory space, $4 M of new laboratories under construction, 3-D X-ray Tomographic Unit, Category 5 Hurricane Wind Simulator, Full-scale Geoengineering Soil Test Box, TARP Certified Stormwater Unit Operations and Process (UOP) Testing Facility, UF Atmospheric Photochemical Outdoor Reactor, and access to a Scanning Environmental Electron Microscope through the Major Analytical Instrumentation Center. These research facilities and others are available to support faculty engaged in interdisciplinary sustainability research and to promote active collaborations with faculty campus wide.

The School offers ABET-accredited bachelor’s degrees in both civil engineering and environmental engineering. Master’s and doctoral degrees are available in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering Sciences, and Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering. ESSIE has 43 faculty, 753 undergraduate, 337 masters and 161 doctoral students. ESSIE has approximately $34.7 million in research funding. These funds support 78% of the doctoral students, while fellowships sponsor another 12%, and the remaining 10% are supported through teaching stipends. ESSIE’s total annual expenditures exceed $27.3 million, with $19.5 million in research generated from external contracts and grants.

The College of Engineering has over 270 Faculty, over 2,600 Graduate Students and over 5,000 Undergraduates. It is one of the most comprehensive Engineering Colleges in the country and ranked 15th among public Colleges of Engineering in the US News and World Report. In addition, Gainesville is a vibrant community and has been rated as one of the best places in America to live.

The University of Florida is an equal employment opportunity employer, women and minorities are encouraged to apply. The “government in the sunshine” laws of Florida require that all documents relating to the search process, including letters of application/nomination and reference, be available for public inspection.

Interested candidates should submit a complete curriculum vitae referencing position number 00004422, a statement of teaching and research plans with the focus on how those plans will support departmental, School and global initiatives in sustainability, up to three representative journal articles, and the names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of five references to Professor Mark T. Brown, Search Committee Chair, electronically to jobsearch-SysEcol@ees.ufl.edu. Questions may be referred to Dr. Brown at mtb@ufl.edu. Review of applications will begin December 15, 2011 and will continue until the position is filled. For more information about ESSIE and the department, visit http://www.essie.ufl.edu. The University of Florida is an equal opportunity employer; minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.