TENURE-TRACK POSITION IN EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCES

PITZER AND SCRIPPS COLLEGES

The Department of Natural Sciences of Pitzer College and Scripps College, both members of the seven-college Claremont Colleges Consortium, invites applications for a tenure-track appointment in experimental physics at the Assistant Professor level, beginning July 1, 2025. All areas of experimental physics, as well as related fields such as engineering, will be considered.  Candidates should be able to provide our students with experiment-based research opportunities, which could involve data acquisition from a blend of both in-house experiments and outside laboratories. As experimentalists, candidates should also be fully capable of teaching and enhancing our hands-on laboratory classes, specifically our electronics lab and advanced lab.     

Our unique integrative science department features scientists from biology, chemistry, environmental science, neuroscience, and physics. The Physics discipline also oversees an active 3-2 pre-engineering program. We are a vibrant, highly collegial community of teacher-scholars who value an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research. We seek candidates who are committed to diversity and inclusion, share our enthusiasm for both scientific research and innovative undergraduate teaching, and desire a liberal-arts-college career that balances the two. The Department actively supports faculty success through mentorship, opportunities for professional development, direct access to individual faculty funds to support their research and teaching, regular sabbaticals plus a one-semester junior research leave in the 4^th year, and a two-course per semester teaching load (with one additional course every other year); additionally, brand new labs and teaching spaces will be opening in our new building, the Nucleus, in Fall 2024. (To learn more about the Nucleus, please see https://www.pitzer.edu/the-nucleus-a-pitzer-scripps-colleges-partnership/). 

As a new professor, you would join a department of over 40 scientists, including six physics colleagues.  Faculty of the Department of Natural Sciences are part of the rich intellectual environment of the Claremont Colleges Consortium (with 150+ scientists) and also benefit from close proximity to major research universities in the Southern California region (e.g., Caltech, UCLA, USC), enabling collaboration both within and outside the department. The charming town of Claremont, CA, is a welcoming community in vibrant Los Angeles County. It is within convenient driving distance of both the mountains and the ocean and offers a high quality of life, including a highly regarded K-12 public school district.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in a relevant field, a record of scholarly publications, the capacity to engage students in research, some prior teaching experience such as grad-school TAing, and the ability to teach a broad spectrum of undergraduate physics courses, including electronics and upper-division labs. Postdoctoral or equivalent professional research experience is preferred.  Applications should be uploaded to http://apply.interfolio.com/149874 and require:

(1) a cover letter (up to 2 pages) highlighting your specific interest in this position, your experience, and accomplishments

(2) a curriculum vitae

(3) a research statement (up to 3 pages) highlighting your main research accomplishments and experiences, which includes a viable multi-year plan to establish a productive research program that will engage undergraduates

(4) a teaching statement (1-2 pages) summarizing your teaching experiences, interests, approaches, and your plans to pursue excellence in teaching. If available, include summary statistics of student course evaluations.

(5) an inclusivity statement (1-2 pages) describing your experience and/or approach to cultivating a welcoming and highly supportive educational environment that fosters the success of students from all backgrounds (via your teaching, research, and mentoring).

(6) names and e-mail addresses of three or four references, at least two of whom can address research and at least one of whom can address teaching.

Please notify your references that we will require their letters of recommendation promptly should you advance to the semifinalist stage.  Inquiries regarding the position may be e-mailed to Professor Adam Landsberg at alandsberg@scrippscollege.edu. Review of applications will begin October 1, 2024, and the position will remain open until filled. Additional information about the department (which was formerly known as the W.M. Keck Science Dept.) may be found at the following sites:  http://www.kecksci.claremont.edu/,   https://sites.google.com/view/scripps-pitzer-science-dept/home,  https://catalog.scrippscollege.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=31&ent_oid=2390.

The salary for this position will range from $93,000-$107,000 and will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to internal equity, experience, education, specialty, and training. Other faculty benefits include a generous tuition-remission program for children of faculty, which can potentially cover up to half their tuition at most colleges in the U.S., and a 12% employer contribution to a 403b retirement plan.

The Department of Natural Sciences of Pitzer and Scripps Colleges is an equal-opportunity employer. In a continuing effort to enrich its academic environment and provide equal educational and employment opportunities, the department actively encourages applications from women and members of historically under-represented social groups in higher education.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in a relevant field, a record of scholarly publications, the capacity to engage students in research, some prior teaching experience such as grad-school TAing, and the ability to teach a broad spectrum of undergraduate physics courses, including electronics and upper-division labs. Postdoctoral or equivalent professional research experience is preferred.

About The Department of Natural Sciences of Pitzer and Scripps Colleges

The Department of Natural Sciences of Pitzer and Scripps Colleges houses the biology, chemistry, physics, neuroscience, and environmental science faculty for two of the five undergraduate Claremont Colleges, and offers innovative and interdisciplinary programs in both natural and physical sciences.

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