School of Engineering to hire eight additional faculty

Responding to departmental restructuring and loss of faculty members, Dean of Engineering Linda Abriola has been authorized to hire eight additional faculty members.

The school is seeking eight tenure-track positions in the Biomedical Engineering, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments.

After a year of transition for the School of Engineering, each department was evaluated by a different external review committee. Each consisted of distinguished experts from various schools. During this time, a school-wide hiring freeze was in effect. After an extensive review, each committee ultimately recommended the new positions now available in those departments.

The growth is in response to restructuring of departments last year, not necessarily expansion according to Abriola. She said "for the most part, these positions are to replace faculty who have retired or left the University for various reasons. They do not represent a real growth in numbers.

The hiring decisions are purposefully aimed and will result in reinforcing of departments. "We have selected their areas strategically, so that their recruitment will help strengthen areas of research and education that will be important to Tufts engineering in the next decade," Abriola said.

Ideally the School of Engineering would like to increase the size of its faculty beyond the recent additions, Abriola said. "Over time we do hope to grow the size of the engineering faculty by 25 percent, but we do not yet have a time line, nor do we have a strategy for where the positions will be added." She hopes to develop such a plan this year.

While the criteria for these hires vary in each department, the Engineering School emphasizes research and strong teaching credentials. "We are seeking candidates who have a real dedication to both research and teaching," Abriola said. "The creation of new knowledge and the application of new technologies to address societal problems is at the core of our mission. We want to attract faculty that are excited by what the do, are first-rank scholars, and who which to communicate their excitement and insights to others"

Professor Robert Gonsalves, the chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department said that he is trying to strengthen the departments after they were left "understaffed by the splits in the Fall of 2002," when "several researchers went to the Biochemical and Computer Science departments." The two new positions will be "viewed as additions" to current faculty.

Gonsalves said that while retirements are difficult to anticipate, "if there are retirements, there will be questions about whether another position will be available."

The growth of Gonsalves' department is independent of any student growth or increased demand. Gonsalves expects the student population to remain constant. The Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department experienced a very large growth in the late 1990's but then stabilized to about 50 students.

The Computer Science department is also seeking new faculty. There are now 12 faculty members and the two additions will be considered both additions and replacements according to Diana Souvaine, chair of the Computer Science Department.

Although they split last year, the Computer Science Department and Electrical and Computer Engineering Departments still share much of the same facilities. Both departments are located in Halligan Hall, and share Front Desk administration, Lab Space, and a systems group.

Because the Computer Science department has also encountered enormous growth in its Graduate program, Souvaine said that it is "looking to add temporary space" to accommodate current needs in advance of the likely campus-wide space planning that is expected to take place this year.

David Kaplan, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering is also seeking new positions as a result of the reorganization. He echoed Abriola's desire for both research and teaching saying that his department was "looking for a faculty member at an assistant or associate professor level with strong interests in research and teaching."

However, unlike the other departments, Kaplan said the hires in Biomedical Engineering are an "addition" as the department only has four members.

Kaplan also hopes that the new faculty member will help "add to our capabilities and feel excited about interfacing not only with other departments [in the School of Engineering] but with Arts and Sciences as well."

These new positions should begin to be filled in the 2004-2005 academic year, and further examination of needed positions and more facilities is expected to take place this year.