Professor and Department Head, Aerospace Engineering

Job Description

The College of Engineering at Texas A&M University invites applications for a full-time tenured professor and department head for the Department of Aerospace Engineering with an 11-month academic appointment beginning fall of 2021. The college is seeking a dynamic, innovative, and visionary leader who can continue to advance the department. The successful applicant will be an innovative thinker with a strategic vision for guiding the department to a higher level of excellence and who can communicate this vision to a constituency that includes academia, government, industry, and former students. The candidate must have notable accomplishments and experience in research, academic or industry leadership, teaching and scholarship. 

Cadidates must demonstrate a vision for supporting, directing, and enhancing the goals of the department. This leadership position includes opportunities for research and teaching as well as expanding the department’s interdisciplinary research and interaction with autonomous systems, life sciences, Army Futures Command, smart manufacturing initiatives, innovative energy alternatives, and unconventional energy.

The department head will:

• Demonstrate leadership, mentoring and administrative skills;
• Continue a successful distinguished research and academic record commensurate with the title of tenured full professor;
• Promote continued growth of the department in research excellence and graduate education;
• Lead and motivate high standards for continued excellence and innovation in undergraduate education;
• Build commitment and support for the department from a wide variety of constituent groups such as former students, industry and government labs;
• Provide effective budget management and promote an environment of integrity to stimulate faculty, staff and students to succeed at the highest levels;
• Organize successful fund raising through the pursuit of research funding opportunities (grants and contracts), scholarship and endowments through strengthening relationships with diverse stakeholder groups.

Department Information

As one of fifteen departments within the Texas A&M University College of Engineering, the Department of Aerospace Engineering is excited and proud to be among the top Aerospace Engineering programs in the United States, providing unique cutting-edge educational and research opportunities, including space exploration, national defense, air transportation, communications and sustainable energy. The department is comprised of more than 50 faculty (eight faculty are NAE members), 600+ undergraduate students and almost 200 graduate students who work on exciting projects such as building shape-shifting supersonic aircraft, developing hypersonic technologies, designing virtual reality space simulation environments, flying space missions, developing a 15,000-pound thrust re-startable hybrid rocket system, developing autonomous systems technologies for next generation air and space missions, creating a surface aquatic autonomous drone, and incorporating shape-memory alloys into an emergency response tourniquet. The department emphasizes balance between basic and applied research with strengths spanning basic mechanics, controls, design, instrumentation and systems engineering, with deep expertise in fundamental analytical, computational, and experimental methods.  The laboratory and experimental facilities are top notch.   Recent teaming with the Army Futures Command, Air Force Research Laboratories and Jet Propulsion Laboratory provide excellent avenues to expand the strong existing research portfolio. The opportunities for further advancement of Aerospace Engineering education and research are limitless.

Qualifications

Candidates must have an earned doctorate in Aerospace Engineering or a closely related field.  Evidence of credentials that merit appointment at the rank of full professor with tenure including a distinguished research and academic record commensurate with the title of tenured full professor.

 Application Instructions

Applicants should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching statement, research statement, diversity statement and a list of four references (including postal addresses, phone numbers and email addresses) by applying for this specific position at apply.interfolio.com/79193. Applicants should also submit a three-page statement summarizing his/her personal vision and goals for the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s education and research, as well as his/her philosophy of academic leadership for achieving those goals. Full consideration will be given to applications received by February 1, 2021. Applications received after that date may be considered until the position is filled. It is anticipated the appointment will begin fall 2021.

Contact

Dr. Robin Autenrieth, Department Head and A.P. & Florence Wiley Professor, Aerospace Engineering Department Head Search Committee Chair, Texas A&M University, aerodhsearch@tamu.edu.  

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