The University of Washington (UW) Department of Biology is seeking to hire a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor in Quantitative Understanding of Collective Behavior. A successful candidate would use innovative empirical and quantitative approaches to understand how group behaviors emerge from the actions and interactions of individual organisms. 

Candidates will use empirical and/or theoretical research methods to work with organisms of any scale from bacteria to buffalo or beyond. They may choose to integrate areas of the life sciences such as neurobiology, physiology, animal behavior, ecology, or evolutionary biology, and leverage quantitative tools from fields such as machine learning, computer vision, network science, or robotics, and more. In keeping with our department’s broad taxonomic breadth and commitment to non-model as well as model organisms, we welcome candidates working on a diverse range of study systems. Example topics include but are not limited to collective decision-making; self-organization; schooling, flocking, migrating, or swarming dynamics; and sensing, communication, and distributed computation.

Successful applicants are expected to develop an original, independent, extramurally-funded research program in collective behavior, and promote diversity and equity in their research, teaching, and service activities. They will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses as appropriate. UW faculty members engage in scholarship, teaching, and service. The position provides salary support for 9 months and has an anticipated start date of September 16, 2024. 

Washington State Law requires that this ad list a binding salary range. The base salary range for this position will be $10,000 - $13,000 per month on a 9-month basis ($90,000 - $117,000 annually), commensurate with experience and qualifications, or as mandated by a U.S. Department of Labor prevailing wage determination. 

The University is the 2006 recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan award for Faculty Career Flexibility and is committed to supporting the work-life balance of its faculty. Our NSF-supported ADVANCE program http://advance.washington.edu/ is dedicated to increasing the participation of women in STEM disciplines. 

Applicants must have earned a doctorate, or foreign equivalent, in the biological sciences or a related field by the date of appointment. 

1) Three brief statements (< 200 words) summarizing: 

(a) your past research accomplishments 

(b) your future research goals 

(c) your perspective on mentorship, diversity, equity, and inclusion.  

You will have the opportunity to expand on your ideas in these short statements more fully in the full application (see below). 

2) The names and email addresses of three references who will provide letters of recommendation upon request. 

3) Web links to your three most significant publications. Manuscripts that are publicly available on preprint servers (such as bioRxiv or arXiv) are acceptable. 

4) A list of up to 10 keywords that describe your research. 

5) A merged PDF with: 

1. Cover letter describing why you are interested in joining the UW Department of Biology 

2. Curriculum Vitae, including your full publication list 

3. Research statement, covering both past research accomplishments and future research goals (up to 3 pages)  

4. Teaching statement describing your teaching philosophy and specific plans for contributing to the educational mission of the UW Biology Department (1 page) 

5. Diversity statement discussing your perspective on barriers you have observed or overcome in your career and how those experiences have shaped your approaches to research, teaching, and mentoring. This is also an opportunity to briefly highlight important diversity, equity, and inclusion work you have done in the past, and how you will promote inclusion in your research and classroom environments at UW (1 page) 

Applications must be received by December 1, 2023 to receive full consideration. We welcome inquiries from prospective applicants, addressed to Dr. Carl Bergstrom, chair for this search committee, at cbergst@uw.edu.