1 CHE 594 Lecture 28 Hints For a Prospective Faculty Candidate

Objective For Today Review the assistant professor application process Discuss how a job proposal is different than a research proposal to a funding agency 2

The Assistant Professor Application Process Universities solicit applications Must be advertised for legal reasons Applications come in applications per faculty position At UIUC – probably 10 are good enough to be a faculty member here Triage process Eliminate all but 30 or so Solicit outside letters Decision who to invite based on letters, package, grades, intangibles Need ~100 applications to get 5 interviews 3

What Do People Look For In The Triage Process? Personal connections – do they know your research advisor and like his/her work? Do they like previous graduates from your school? Research area; is it exciting; does it fit into where the department sees itself going? Publication count Prestige of journals where your papers are published Grades Teaching: are you serious about being a faculty member? Does the university have the resources to do the work? Demographics 4

Triage Process is Based On Relationships Usually you need an advocate at the prospective university to be considered Advocates can be Your research advisor’s friends, collaborators Former students from UIUC or your previous university Someone who is really excited by your research area or your research proposal Someone who is interested in hiring someone with your demographics 5

Things You Can Do To Increase Your Chances Try to make the personal connections before your cover letter Meet the dept head or others at technical Increase the personal chances by putting a personal touch into your cover letter It was nice meeting you at.... Professor X, Y, Z recommended that I write to you Praise the people at the University and tell how you fit in Make sure that all of the senior faculty in your division at UIUC knows your work and mentions you when people ask who are the hot faculty candidates this year Ask your research advisor to send a personal 6

There Are Many Qualified Candidates: More Than One Can Invite In Many qualified people will not get an invitation The only solution is to blanket the nation with applications Pick and choose after you get interviews

If You Make it Past the Triage, The Next Stage Is To Solicit Letters Key Issues Who is writing the letters Your research advisors prestige Strong letters from senior people in your department other than your research advisor Schools will solicit recommendations from people other than those on your reference list It is really important how well the letters are crafted The skill of the letter writer in selling your strengths is the difference between your being invited or not

Once Letters Come In, Decision Needs To Be Made Who To Invite Key issues in decision: Relationships Quality of the Letters Publication count Prestige of journals where your papers are published Your research & teaching proposal Demographics Grades 9

Notice That Your Research Proposal Is A Small Part Up To Now People want to judge how good you are, not how well you write applications Did you do an outstanding job in grad school? Publication count Papers in prestigious journals Do you have a good enough understanding of critical material to teach? Grades Do people they trust think they will do well at their institution? Letters Are you well educated? Previous experience with people from your university/research group 10

What Goes In A Research Proposal For A Faculty Job Big picture What is the area that you want to work in? What are the key questions in that area? What special expertise do you bring to the table? How will you be a leader in that area? The first big question that you wish to address Why is this question important Overview of how will you address it 11

What Goes In A Research Proposal For A Faculty Job (Cont) Specific examples Smaller problems that you will attack These are like the specific objectives in a research proposal What will your first graduate student do? How will the initial plans affect your research goals Why are you uniquely suited to the problem? How you expect to fund your work? 3-5 pages total is enough 12

Typical Outline Of Research Statement Strong leading paragraph I want to be a world leader in … This is a growing area. There already are outstanding workers in the field … but I want to do something unique … Case statement, specific objectives and experimental design for your first project Possibly include your second project 13

Remember The Heilmeier Criteria What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon. If you cannot explain it simply you are not going to get a job Who cares? If you're successful, what difference will it make? What's new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful? What special skills do you bring to the question? How much will it cost, how long will it take 14

How Is This Different Than A Research Proposal You need a career plan not a research proposal People are judging whether they should hire you as a colleague Is your area exciting enough to sustain a career? Do you have plans for the different stages of your career Just getting started Building to a full professor Becoming a star Indicate that you want to become a leader in an area and here is how I will do it rather than saying here is a piece of work that I want to do

What Do Universities Look For When They Evaluate The Proposal If you do what you propose will you get tenure? Usually people assume that you will only do half of what you propose Can you do it? In your existing work, have you demonstrated the brains and drive you need for success? How well will the work fit into the department Remember to cite specific people in your cover letter or research proposal 16

Again the Research Proposal Is Only A Small Part of The Decision To Invite The most important thing is the quality of your PhD/Postdoc Publication count Publications in good journals Letters

Next: The Interview Everything changes in the interview If you get to the interview, your previous work has been judged as being good enough Interviews are focused on the future not the past The quality of your research ideas Whether you can communicate/teach Whether you demonstrate drive and enthusiasm you need to succeed Whether you can fund your work 18

Components Of The Research Quality Judgment If your research succeeds, who is going to care and why? How is this advance going to change the way that the community thinks about some issue. Can you really do the work Do you know the techniques and their limitations How prepared are you to overcome the inevitable difficulties that arise in your research Can you find work arounds/alternate methods

Preparation For The Interview You need A 5, 15, and 45 minute description of what you have done A 5, 15 and 30 minute description of what you are planning to do in research A 5 minute spiel on alternate techniques you could try if your initial experiments do not work A 2-5 minute spiel on every technique you are planning to use A 5 and 15 minute description of your teaching plan – what courses and why A 5 minute description of what you need to get started Equipment, students, space A 5 minute description of how you will fund your work You also need to know who you are likely to collaborate with at the university 20

The 5 Minute Research Description Define the problem What is the area (One sentence) Mention why it is important What is the first key question you plan to address – this should be one specific aim from your proposal Explain how that fits into the big problem What has been done before (1-2 sentences) What are you going to do that is new? How is it different than things that were done before Preliminary results

The 15 Minute Research Description Define the problem What is the area (One sentence) Mention why it is important Define the sub area Explain how it fits with the big issue Describe three specific aims Explain how they fits into the big problem Go through each specific aim What has been done before (1-2 sentences) What are you going to do that is new? How is it different than things that were done before Preliminary results

The 30 Minute Research Description Describe the research area (2-5 mins) Why is it important What are the key issues in the field Who are the leaders What have you done already (5 mins) Why was it important What is the next major question you are going to address Explain how it fits with the big issue Describe three specific aims Explain how they fits into the big problem Go through each specific aim What has been done before (1-2 sentences) What are you going to do that is new? How is it different than things that were done before Preliminary results

Many Other Items Needed You need A 5, 15, and 45 minute description of what you have done A 5, 15 and 30 minute description of what you are planning to do in research A 5 minute spiel on alternate techniques you could try if your initial experiments do not work A 2-5 minute spiel on every technique you are planning to use A 5 and 15 minute description of your teaching plan – what courses and why A 5 minute description of what you need to get started Equipment, students, space A 5 minute description of how you will fund your work You also need to know who you are likely to collaborate with at the university 24

25 Questions?