VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING seeks to fill a new tenure-track faculty position in NUCLEAR ENGINEERING to further develop its nuclear engineering program. The position is open to the ranks of Assistant, Associate or Full Professor.  Applicants at the Associate and Full Professor rank should show national and international prominence in the nuclear engineering community and are expected to assume a leadership role in the program. Applicants with a PhD and having university/ industrial/national laboratory experience are strongly encouraged to apply. Successful applicants must have a doctorate in nuclear engineering or a related field. They will be expected to develop a strong research program and contribute to the educational mission of the nuclear engineering program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. We are seeking applicants having strong interdisciplinary interests across all areas of nuclear engineering. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in reactor physics, particle transport, radiation detection, or detector materials.

The nuclear engineering program is a rapidly growing component of Virginia Tech’s Mechanical Engineering Department, which is ranked 16th and 17th out of all mechanical engineering departments in the nation in undergraduate and graduate education, respectively, by the 2014 U.S. News and World Report. The department has over 1250 undergraduate and 300 graduate students, and over 50 faculty members.  Applicants would join an existing team of nuclear engineering faculty members, who work in close collaboration with a number of faculty members from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as faculty from the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, and Physics. The Program also operates the Nuclear Science and Engineering Lab (NSEL) under the auspices of the Institute of Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) at the Virginia Tech Research Center (VTRC) at Arlington, in Northern Virginia. At the Blacksburg campus, we have a Radiation Measurement, Simulation and Visualization Lab and a Neutron Irradiation Lab with two neutron generators.  The Nuclear Engineering Program currently awards a Master’s degree and Doctorate in Nuclear Engineering.  An undergraduate minor in nuclear engineering is under development.  Virginia Tech is one of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, a board member of the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium (VNEC) Authority, a board member of the Southeast Universities Nuclear Reactors Institute for Science and Education (SUNRISE), partners with the Center for Advanced Engineering & Research in Lynchburg and has strong relationships with AREVA NP, Inc., the Babcock and Wilcox Company, Dominion Power, and Huntington-Ingalls Newport News Shipyard.

Review of applicants will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer. The University has a strong commitment to the principle of diversity and, in that spirit, seeks a broad spectrum of candidates including women, minorities, and persons with disabilities. Virginia Tech is a recipient of the National Science Foundation ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award to increase the participation of women in academic science and engineering careers (www.advance.vt.edu). Candidates who wish to be considered for this position should apply online at https://listings.jobs.vt.edu and link to posting number TR0140151.  Applicants are requested to submit a Curriculum Vitae, the names of four references, a statement of research interests, a statement of teaching interests, and a cover letter. These items must be submitted electronically.

For assistance submitting the application please contact Ms. Hannah Neuse (hneuse@vt.edu, (540) 231-7183). Inquires about the position should be directed to the Chair of the search committee, Prof. Alireza Haghighat (haghighat@vt.edu), (571) 858-3333. Individuals with disabilities desiring accommodations in the application process should notify Professor Haghighat.