Professor Position in AI/ML

The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus and the Department of Computer Science seek applicants for a senior professor (tenured) position in AI/ML to be part of the founding group of faculty at Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus. Outstanding candidates will be considered for an endowed chair position. Candidates for the endowed chair position should have an excellent record of research, advising, teaching, and/or service commensurate with a distinguished level of scholarship.

The Innovation Campus is a bold, new vision for research and graduate education in computer science and computer engineering. Located adjacent to the nation’s capital in Alexandria, Virginia, it will unite industry, government, and academia in dynamic project-based learning and purpose driven research to shape the way emerging technologies influence society. Construction has begun on the 11-story first academic building for the Innovation Campus, which is set to open in 2024. The successful candidate will have the unique opportunity to design and shape the cutting-edge research and instructional programs to be offered at the Innovation Campus.

We seek candidates who can lead and foster the themes of the Innovation Campus vision (see https://vt.edu/innovationcampus/about.html), in particular use-inspired research, building pathways for a diverse graduate student cohort, and creating partnerships with industry. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to deep learning, immersive analytics, machine learning in adversarial settings, bias/unfairness/ethics in AI, and emerging paradigms in ML including in areas of self-supervised learning and reinforcement learning. Candidates working at the intersection of machine learning/AI and other computing or application domains---such as cyber-security, urban computing, and distributed and IoT systems---are especially encouraged to apply. Successful candidates should be able to demonstrate an interest in initiating and sustaining collaborations within computing as well as with domain scientists.

The successful candidate will have opportunities for collaboration with and appointment in the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence & Data Analytics, which conducts transdisciplinary research in data science and AI in areas of national interest including national security, sustainability, and public health. Formerly known as the Discovery Analytics Center, the center today includes 20 faculty, 4 staff members, and over 120 full-time graduate students conducting research in all areas of data science and AI across both our Northern Virginia and Blacksburg campuses. Faculty and students have garnered several competitive awards from agencies like NSF, NEH, IARPA, DARPA and from corporations such as Facebook, Google, HP Labs, and C3.ai. The center’s researchers study not just the algorithmic aspects of converting data to knowledge and of automated decision-making, but also human-AI collaboration and teaming, and the ethical and social aspects of AI.

Virginia Tech is a public land-grant university, committed to teaching and learning, research, and outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world. Building on its motto of Ut Prosim (that I may serve), Virginia Tech is dedicated to InclusiveVT—serving in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence. We actively seek a broad spectrum of candidates to join our community in preparing leaders for the world. The Department of Computer Science currently has 67 faculty members, including 56 tenured or tenure-track faculty, 17 early career awardees, and numerous recipients of faculty awards from IBM, Intel, AMD, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and others. The department is home to over 1,400 undergraduate majors and over 600 graduate students and is located in the College of Engineering, whose undergraduate program ranks 13th and graduate program ranks 31st among all U.S. engineering schools (USN&WR). The Mission of the College of Engineering is to educate and inspire our students to be critical thinkers, innovators and leaders. Our core values are inclusiveness, excellence, integrity, perseverance and stewardship.

The CS undergraduate program is based at the main campus in Blacksburg, VA. CS graduate programs are offered in both Blacksburg and Northern Virginia, where master’s and doctoral degrees have been offered for more than forty years at facilities in Falls Church and Arlington. The department plays a key role in the Commonwealth’s multi-year plan to expand the number of computer science graduates for Virginia employers. Courses are currently taught at our Falls Church facility. The Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, under construction in the Potomac Yards development in Alexandria, Virginia will be the home for our rapidly growing CS graduate program in the near future.

The successful candidate will have a doctoral degree in computer science or a related field at the time of appointment, a strong record of academic accomplishments and a proven ability to work collaboratively; a commitment to interdisciplinary research and instruction and a willingness to expand disciplinary boundaries to address complex technical and societal challenges. Tenured faculty are expected to initiate and develop independent research that is internationally recognized for excellence, conscientiously mentor research-oriented graduate students, teach effectively at the graduate level, and serve the university and their professional communities. . Position requires occasional travel to attend conferences and meetings. The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

Applications must be submitted online to jobs.vt.edu. Candidates should submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, a teaching statement, a statement on contributions to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, and contact information for at least three references. Application review will begin on 12/15/21 and continue until the positions are filled. Inquiries should be directed to Dr. Naren Ramakrishnan, search committee chair, at naren@cs.vt.edu.

The department fully embraces Virginia Tech’s commitment to increase faculty, staff, and student diversity; to ensure a welcoming, affirming, safe, and accessible campus climate; to advance our research, teaching, and service mission through inclusive excellence; and to promote sustainable transformation through institutionalized structures. Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of age, color, disability, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status, or otherwise discriminate against employees or applicants who inquire about, discuss, or disclose their compensation or the compensation of other employees or applicants, or on any other basis protected by law. If you are an individual with a disability and need accommodation, please contact Samantha Pipken at samanthap@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the event.

• An earned PhD in Computer Science or closely related field at the time of the appointment and a rank-appropriate record of scholarship and service in computing research.
• Ability to contribute to the department's teaching mission at the graduate level.
• A strong record of academic accomplishments and a proven ability to work collaboratively.
• A commitment to interdisciplinary research and instruction
• A willingness to expand disciplinary boundaries to address complex technical and societal challenges.

• Demonstrated interest in collaborative research in AI, ML, data analytics, and related areas.
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to work collaboratively with faculty from a variety of disciplines.
• Contributions to improving the diversity of the discipline and commitment to working effectively with a diverse student population.
• Recognition of research excellence as demonstrated, e.g., best paper or society awards.
• Established record of collaboration with non-academic partners, entrepreneurial engagement, and technology transfer.

December 15, 2021

The successful candidate will be required to have a criminal conviction check.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech pushes the boundaries of knowledge by taking a hands-on, transdisciplinary approach to preparing scholars to be leaders and problem-solvers. A comprehensive land-grant institution that enhances the quality of life in Virginia and throughout the world, Virginia Tech is an inclusive community dedicated to knowledge, discovery, and creativity. The university offers more than 280 majors to a diverse enrollment of more than 36,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students in eight undergraduate colleges, a school of medicine, a veterinary medicine college, Graduate School, and Honors College. The university has a significant presence across Virginia, including the Innovation Campus in Northern Virginia; the Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke; sites in Newport News and Richmond; and numerous Extension offices and research centers. A leading global research institution, Virginia Tech conducts more than $500 million in research annually.