The Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech seeks applicants for a tenured or tenure-track faculty position in wireless communications and networking. The position is open for Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor candidates, with named professorship opportunities possible for truly exceptional applicants.
The successful candidate will join Wireless@Virginia Tech (Wireless@VT), an interdisciplinary research team consisting of faculty and students in electrical and computer engineering, computer science, and mechanical engineering. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to engage with the Center's industrial partners, as well as faculty from partner universities. A successful candidate at the associate or full professor level will have the opportunity and expectation to be an active participant in the Center's leadership and management. Wireless@VT is a world leader in wireless research and education with a broad spectrum of research encompassing wireless communications and networking, including RF circuits, information assurance, signal processing and algorithm development, networking, antennas and propagation, communications theory, and modem hardware design. The center is especially known for its work in cognitive radio and advanced spectrum access technologies, and has a research program in wireless communications that dates back to the 1960s. Research areas of interest for this position include, but are not limited to, any of the wireless communications and networking research areas specified above.
The successful candidate is expected to contribute to the broader research and educational mission of the ECE Department. The successful candidate will be expected to develop and maintain a vigorous, nationally recognized funded research program, teach undergraduate and graduate courses, and participate in department, college, and/or university service and outreach activities.
Required Qualifications
- A Ph.D. in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a closely related field, earned prior to employment
- Research expertise in wireless communications and/or networking
- Demonstrated aptitude for and experience in organizational leadership for appointment at the rank of full professor
- Ability to articulate a coherent agenda of collaborative research or scholarship and to identify potential funding sources to support such research
- Demonstrated excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching for appointment at the rank of full professor or associate professor and an international reputation for excellence in scholarship and research for appointment as a full professor; or evidence of strong potential for excellence in research, scholarship, and teaching for appointment at the rank of assistant professor
- Effective communication skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Ability and willingness to work collaboratively with faculty from a variety of disciplines
- Interest and/or experience in mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students in research
- Interest and experience working effectively with a diverse student population
- Willingness and ability to work in a technology-based research and education environment, such as is characterized by use of learning technologies, distance learning, online courses, videoconferencing, and network and grid-based collaborative research
Wireless@Virginia Tech
Wireless@VT is the largest wireless communications and networks research center in the nation, with over thirty faculty members participating and a hundred students in more than 50 research projects. Over 30 courses are available that relate directly to wireless communications. The center has expertise in antennas and propagation, communications theory, information assurance, wireless and social networking, system integration, spectrum policy and economics, and VLSI. The organization prides itself on creating graduates who excel in hands-on, multidisciplinary and collaborative efforts. Recently, the group has established a 48-node cognitive radio network as an open resource to its members. The group has an active Industrial Affiliates program that brings in collaborative industrial participation and baseline support funding. More information is at wireless.vt.edu.
The ECE Department
The ECE Department offers B.S., M.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degree programs in both Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering with enrollment of about 600 full-time undergraduate students and 500 graduate students. In addition to the main Blacksburg campus, an active research program and a full- and part-time graduate program are located in the National Capital Region (Washington, DC area), with 10 full-time ECE faculty who interact closely with faculty in Blacksburg.
In the most recent US News & World Report rankings, our electrical engineering graduate program is tied for 21st and our computer engineering graduate program is tied for 24th and our electrical engineering undergraduate program is tied for 14th. The department's external research expenditures were ranked 13th among ECE and similar departments based on data from the most recent (2011) from the ASEE's profiles of colleges of engineering.
The ECE Department has 73 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and external research expenditures exceeding $29 million annually. The department has programs that are among the nation's largest and strongest in power electronics, power systems, wireless communications and networking, space science and engineering, remote sensing, fiber optics and photonics, and computational biology. The department has additional emerging areas of strength in autonomous systems, biomedical applications, cybersecurity, embedded systems, and semiconductors. The department is the beneficiary of the Bradley Endowment which provides scholarships, fellowships, professorships, and other support for the department. For more information about the ECE Department and the College of Engineering, please visit www.ece.vt.edu and www.eng.vt.edu.
The University
Through a combination of its three missions of discovery, learning, and engagement, Virginia Tech continually strives to accomplish the charge of its motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). Virginia Tech is the Commonwealth's senior land-grant institution. Highly selective in admissions, the University enrolls approximately 23,700 undergraduate and 7,300 graduate and professional students, and has more than 3,100 faculty members and researchers. The university offers 65 bachelor's degree programs through its seven undergraduate academic colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Architecture and Urban Studies, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, Natural Resources and Environment, Pamplin College of Business, and Science. At the graduate level, the university offers 150 master's and doctoral degree programs through the Graduate School and a professional degree from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. Through a public-private partnership, Virginia Tech and the Carilion Clinic have created the Virginia-Tech Carilion School of Medicine and the Virginia Tech-Carilion Research Institute. For more information about the university, please visit www.vt.edu.
The Community
Virginia Tech is located in Blacksburg in the scenic mountains of southwestern Virginia, about 40 miles west of Roanoke. Bloomberg Businessweek recently ranked Blacksburg as the "Best Place in the U.S. to Raise Kids." Livability.com has given Blacksburg the title of one of the ten best college towns for 2012. Blacksburg also has a growing and active community of young professionals who work at Virginia Tech, small companies in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, and elsewhere in the area. For more information about the Town of Blacksburg, please visit www.blacksburg.va.us.
The Application Process
Qualified applicants must submit a letter of application, a curriculum vita, and a list of at least three references electronically to jobs.vt.edu to posting number 0122284. The letter of application should state the applicant's expectations of rank and tenure. Please follow carefully the instructions found on the employment website regarding the application submission process. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept paper applications. Paper applications or electronic applications sent via e-mail cannot be considered. Review of applications will begin December 1, 2012 and will continue until the position is filled with an appropriate candidate. The anticipated start date is August 10, 2013.
Applications from women and other underrepresented populations in engineering are especially encouraged. Virginia Tech has a program designed to support the retention and advancement of female faculty; see www.advance.vt.edu. Individuals with disabilities desiring accommodation in the application process should notify K. Atkins, ECE Dept, (540) 231-4136 or TDD/PC 1-800-828-1120 or Voice 1-800-828-1140.
Virginia Tech is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.