Assistant Professor - Aerospace Engineering

Position Rank and Title: Assistant Professor - Aerospace Engineering

Department Name: Aerospace Engineering

Compensation: Commensurate with qualifications, experience, and rank as established by the CSU Salary Schedule . See Benefits Summary for details about the CSU’s excellent employment benefits.

Target Start Date: August 2022

Application Deadline: For full consideration, please apply by January 15, 2022 (Applications accepted until filled or closed)

Position Description


The Aerospace Engineering Department at San José State University seeks qualified candidates for two full-time positions at the Assistant Professor level. The Department offers an MSAE program with an enrollment of 77 and an ABET-accredited BSAE program with an enrollment of 317. Student populations in the Department are very diverse with Asian (35%) and Hispanic/Latinx (24%) being the two largest groups. AE students are supported in a thriving learning community which offers on-demand tutoring for all required courses, student mentoring, and an AE women’s forum. Our courses combine student-centered pedagogies, such as in-class cooperative problem solving, integrated project-based learning, and physical laboratories in aerodynamics, aerospace structures, dynamics, and controls. Professional skills are integrated throughout the curriculum with strong emphasis on design-build-test-and-fly/launch projects involving UAVs, microsatellites, and rockets. Many of these projects involve collaboration with NASA and local industry. The Technology Education Satellite program (TechEdSat) in particular, was pioneered through a collaboration of the Department with NASA Ames Research Center. The College is the leading provider of engineers to Silicon Valley. Website: https://www.sjsu.edu/ae/

The College of Engineering, Aerospace Engineering and San José State University value diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Our excellence in research, teaching, and service can only be fully realized by faculty, students, and staff who share our commitment to these values. SJSU enrolls more than 36,000 students, many of whom are historically underserved, and around 45% are first-generation and 38% are Pell-recipients. SJSU is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander (AANAPISI) Serving Institution. The university’s commitment to social justice extends from its vibrant, inclusive campus to an international network of over 275,000 alumni. As such, San José State is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty so our disciplines, students, and the community can benefit from multiple ethnic and gender perspectives.

Successful candidates will demonstrate evidence of a commitment to equity and inclusion through their research, teaching, and/or service. We ask that all applicants include a Diversity Statement with their application package. A guide to writing this statement can be found at SJSU Diversity Statement Guidelines , along with information about how these statements will be evaluated.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering or closely related field.
• Applicants should demonstrate awareness of and sensitivity to educational goals of a multicultural population as might have been gained in cross-cultural study, training, teaching and other comparable experience.

Preferred Qualifications


Priority will be given to candidates who possess specialization in one of the following areas:

• Experimental gas dynamics or autonomous aerospace system design and control.

Key Responsibilities


The successful candidate is expected to:

• Teach and assess undergraduate and graduate courses in their area of specialization.
• Develop laboratory experiments to support teaching and research.
• Supervise graduate and undergraduate student projects.
• Advise graduate and undergraduate students.
• Engage in peer-reviewed scholarly work. Aerospace Engineering faculty members are expected.
• The candidate will participate in shared governance, usually in department, college, and university committees and other service assignments.
• The candidate must demonstrate awareness and experience understanding the needs of a student population of great diversity – in age, abilities, cultural background, ethnicity, religion, economic background, primary language, sexual orientation, gender identity, and academic preparation – through inclusive course materials, teaching strategies and advisement.

Eligibility: Employment is contingent upon proof of eligibility to work in the United States.


Application Procedure


Click Apply Now to complete the SJSU Online Employment Application and attach the following documents:

• letter of interest
• curriculum vitae
• diversity statement (2 pages maximum) discussing specific initiatives, strategies, activities that you have accomplished and/or that you plan to accomplish to advance diversity, equity, and/or inclusion
• statement of teaching interests/philosophy (2 pages maximum)
• research plans (2 pages maximum)
• three references with contact information

Inquiries may be directed to the Department Chair: Dr. Nikos J. Mourtos – nikos.mourtos@sjsu.edu



Conditional Offer

Employment is contingent upon proof of eligibility to work in the United States. Satisfactory completion of a background check (including a criminal records check) is required for employment. CSU will make a conditional offer of employment, which may be rescinded if the background check reveals disqualifying information, and/or it is discovered that the candidate knowingly withheld or falsified information. Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the continued employment of a current CSU employee who was conditionally offered the position.

San José State University: Silicon Valley's Public University


Located in the heart of Silicon Valley — one of the most innovative regions in the world —
San José State University is the founding campus of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system and the first public university in the West. The 2020 #1 Most Transformative University in the nation according to Money Magazine, San José State is an essential partner in the economic, cultural and social development of Silicon Valley, the Bay Area and California. SJSU is a top-200 school nationally in research funding and second highest in research productivity in the CSU system. This cutting-edge research, combined with its world-class scholarship, student-centered learning opportunities, and experiential and interdisciplinary programs, allows SJSU to provide transformative opportunities that advance the public good locally and globally.

Equal Employment Statement


San José State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, or disability. This policy applies to all San José State University students, faculty, and staff as well as University programs and activities. Reasonable accommodations are made for applicants with disabilities who self-disclose. Note that all San José State University employees are considered mandated reporters under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and are required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment.

Advertised: September 29, 2021 (9:00 AM) Pacific Daylight Time
Applications close: