Job Description

Detailed Job Description

The School of Physics and Astronomy at the Rochester Institute of Technology invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in physics education research and/or astronomy education research. The position is anticipated to be at the rank of Assistant Professor. The position start date is August 2024. Applicants are expected to have the demonstrated ability, or strong potential, to establish and maintain a vigorous, externally funded research program that incorporates undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: inclusion and accessibility in physics education, cognition and reasoning, quantum information science education, teacher and TA preparation, institutional transformation, the public understanding of science, informal science education, design/development of experiential research opportunities, computational physics education, and laboratory education.

RIT and the School of Physics and Astronomy celebrate and respect diversity in all forms, including race, religion, gender, ethnicity, veterans, people with varied abilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Women, people of color, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and members from other historically marginalized identities are particularly encouraged to apply. RIT seeks candidates with demonstrated experience teaching and working with individuals from diverse backgrounds to contribute to the University’s mission, vision, and core values of Student Centeredness; Professional Development and Scholarship; Integrity and Ethics; Respect, Diversity and Pluralism; Innovation and Flexibility; and Teamwork and Collaboration. Select to view links to RIT’s core values, honor code, and diversity.

The successful candidate will contribute to RIT’s Science & Mathematics Education Research Collaborative (SMERC) a group of faculty, postdocs and graduate students from physics, life sciences, chemistry, and mathematics. SMERC hosts an annual NSF REU in discipline-based education research, as well as a seminar series and weekly journal club. Additional collaboration opportunities in engineering education, computing education, and deaf-education/accessibility (with RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID)) are encouraged through RIT’s Center for Advancing STEM Teaching Learning & Evaluation (CASTLE).

Successful candidates must have a demonstrated strong commitment to excellence in teaching and research mentoring, as the educational experience of our students is of utmost priority at RIT. Individuals are expected to be eager and able to teach and develop courses across all levels of our physics undergraduate and graduate programs, including graduate courses related to physics education research. A plan to integrate and mentor undergraduate and graduate students at all levels must be part of the candidate’s research program.

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in physics or a closely related field, and have postdoctoral experience. Candidates must have strong communication skills and demonstrate an overall commitment to the educational, research, and teaching mission of the School of Physics and Astronomy.


Department/College Description

The School of Physics and Astronomy consists of 38 fulltime faculty, 9 postdocs, 180 undergraduate physics majors, and 70 graduate students. The School offers a BS and MS program in Physics, a PhD/MS program in Astrophysical Sciences and Technology, and our new PhD program in Physics is being launched in Fall 2024. Faculty in the school currently also contribute to graduate programs in Materials Science & Engineering, Microsystems Engineering, Sustainability, Imaging Science, Mathematical Modeling, and Applied & Computational Mathematics. The College of Science leads six of RIT’s nine major research centers, namely, the Center for Advanced Teaching Learning & Evaluation, the Center for Computational Relativity & Gravitation, the NanoPower Research Laboratory, the Laboratory for Multiwavelength Astrophysics, the Center for Detectors, and the Digital Imaging & Remote Sensing Laboratory. Currently, RIT has identified five Signature Research Areas, and the College of Science leads three of them, i.e., the Future Photon Initiative, Frontiers in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics, and Unmanned Aerial Systems. College of Science faculty also collaborate with the Center for Human-aware AI and the Computational Linguistics and Speech Processing Lab.

Information about the RIT School of Physics and Astronomy can be found at https://www.rit.edu/science/school-physics-and-astronomy.


Required Minimum Qualifications

A PhD in physics or a closely related field Post-doctoral experience
Demonstrated commitment to research and excellence in teaching at all levels of the curriculum
Ability to establish and maintain a vigorous program in physics and/or astronomy education research
Demonstrated ability, or strong potential, to obtain external research funding
A commitment to the educational and teaching mission of the School of Physics and Astronomy A commitment to including graduate and undergraduate students in research
Strong communication skills
Ability to contribute in meaningful ways to RIT’s continuing commitment to cultural diversity, pluralism, and individual differences