Faculty - Application of Artificial Intelligence to the study of Infectious Disease Dynamics

Position Summary

The University of Georgia is hiring a cluster of eight tenure-track or tenured faculty in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, and Infectious Disease Dynamics through a Presidential Faculty Hiring Initiative over two years, five with target start date in August 2022 and three with target start date in August 2023. 

As part of the cluster hire, the College of Engineering’s School of Chemical, Materials, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA) invites applications for one open rank, 9-month tenured or tenure-track faculty position at the Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor level. This position will start on August 1, 2022, and is an academic year appointment (9 months) with an opportunity to supplement salary during the summer.

The successful applicant will be expected to 1) establish an outstanding research program recognized both nationally and internationally, 2) foster partnerships within and outside the University of Georgia as well as industry, 3) exhibit a strong commitment to teaching excellence at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and 4) compete successfully for extramural funding to support research and companion graduate and postdoctoral training programs. 

In the coming years, the University of Georgia will hire a total of 50 faculty in eight clusters through the Presidential Interdisciplinary Faculty Hiring Initiative in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (https://t.uga.edu/7hW). Rather than being housed exclusively in a single department, however, the majority of UGA’s newly recruited faculty will focus on the fusion of data science and AI in cross-cutting areas such as infectious diseases, integrative precision agriculture, ethics, cybersecurity, resilient communities and the environment.

The UGA College of Engineering will utilize this initiative to demonstrate our commitment to diversifying our faculty and ensure that we maintain and grow the culture of equity and inclusivity in our college. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of the university and college, and this hiring initiative will make use of the best practices to ensure an inclusive search process. The Diversity and Inclusion Plan for the college identifies priority areas for our investments and through the 2021-2022 academic year we will develop a Diversity Strategic Plan as part of a campus-wide effort. The college offers structured mentoring programs for all faculty that support professional development. Several programs exist to enhance the inclusiveness of our college, including a student-led Engineering Equity Council and facilitated dialogue that promotes discourse on topics in diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

UGA seeks to expand research at the cutting edge of infectious disease science, and to build scientific capacity for pandemic prevention and preparedness. This cluster hire is aimed at developing an integrated basic and translational scientific paradigm for understanding epidemics. This Infectious Disease Cluster will strengthen and expand UGA’s position as a global leader in infectious disease dynamics. Recognized globally for its contributions to systems engineering, disease ecology, epidemiology, and evolution, UGA is seeking to build on its existing core strengths in modeling pathogen spillover, transmission, intervention, and spatial spread by expanding its capabilities in epidemic forecasting, biosurveillance, applications of artificial intelligence to infectious disease research, and nonparametric, agent-based, and multi-scale modeling of disease transmission. 

The faculty positions are distributed over the following four schools or colleges: Department of Statistics, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Odum School of Ecology, School of Chemical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, College of Public Health. To facilitate interaction among these researchers, each faculty member will have membership in the Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases (CEID) and/or the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB). Collectively, these new faculty members will help position UGA to contribute to anticipated national networks of centers for molecular epidemiology, predictive intelligence for infectious diseases, and infectious disease forecasting, modeling, and analytics. For more information on the cluster hiring initiative and all the five currently open positions for this year, visit https://www.ceid.uga.edu/idd/.

Faculty hired as part of this initiative will join a rapidly growing engineering college that combines interdisciplinary research and scholarship with excellent instruction and service. The UGA College of Engineering currently enrolls over 2,500 engineering majors and has over 80 full-time faculty across fifteen-degree programs.  Significant investments in infrastructure have resulted in an expansion of laboratory facilities for research and scholarship and new classrooms and instructional labs. College of Engineering faculty will have space in two major capital projects on campus to create interdisciplinary research facilities. Our main instructional facility has also undergone complete renovation to create flexible classrooms that enable a range of teaching modalities and the incorporation of interdisciplinary instructional labs. The common instructional facilities also foster diversity since they allow faculty, staff, and students to interact and collaborate in a single facility.  

Minimum Qualifications 

Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Bioengineering, or a related discipline. 

Relevant/Preferred Qualifications

• A strong record of research, scholarship, and instruction that is commensurate with the stage in their professional career and aligned with the areas of research and scholarship associated with this position.

• Successful candidates will have an excellent creative research record at the interface of data science, artificial intelligence, and infectious disease, in areas such as: Nonparametric models or nonlinear dynamical models of infectious disease transmission, identification of nonlinear dynamical systems with neural nets, reinforcement learning for control of disease outbreaks, functional data analysis, or similar related areas. 

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• A focus on interdisciplinary scholarship that addresses critical societal challenges.  

• Evidence of a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through scholarship, teaching, and/or service endeavors.

• A demonstrated record exhibiting leadership traits, effective communication, and ability to develop innovative programs is desired.

Application Procedure 

To apply, please submit applications at: https://www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/226004.

Review of applications begins November 15, 2021 and continues until filled. All applications received by November 15th, 2021 will receive full consideration. Applications should include: 1) cover letter (not to exceed one page), 2) curriculum vitae, 3) research statement highlighting interest in and contributions to infectious disease modeling and forecasting (not to exceed 2 pages), 4) teaching statement (not to exceed 2 pages), 5) statement on commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and 6) the names, titles, and contact information for three professional references.  Applicants should also provide names and email addresses for these 3 references using the online system. 

Questions related to the position may be directed to K. Melissa Hallow, Associate Professor in CMBE, hallowkm@uga.edu

About the College of Engineering and the School of Chemical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering

The College of Engineering at the University of Georgia is one of the fastest growing programs at UGA and one of the fastest growing public colleges of engineering in the nation. Since our founding in 2012, enrollment in the College of Engineering has grown to over 2,400 students. Students and faculty alike are attracted to our setting in a comprehensive, land-grant, research institution that’s consistently ranked among the 20 best public universities in the nation. The rapidly expanding UGA engineering program focuses on opportunities for learning, discovery and innovation at the confluence of disciplines.

The School of Chemical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering is building a vibrant academic environment that fosters engineering education in a liberal arts environment and research that addresses critical societal needs. The School offers undergraduate and graduate engineering degree programs in biochemical engineering and biological engineering and has grown rapidly to nearly 500 undergraduate and graduate students and 18 faculty members.  

Additional information is available at https://cmbe.uga.edu/ 

About the University of Georgia

The University of Georgia (UGA), a land-grant and sea-grant university with statewide commitments and responsibilities, is the state’s oldest, most comprehensive, and most diversified institution of higher education (https://www.uga.edu/). UGA is currently ranked among the top 16 public universities in U.S. News & World Report. The University’s main campus is located in Athens, approximately 65 miles northeast of Atlanta, with extended campuses in Atlanta, Griffin, Gwinnett, and Tifton. UGA was founded in 1785 by the Georgia General Assembly as the first state-chartered University in the country. UGA employs approximately 1,800 full-time instructional faculty and more than 7,700 full-time staff. The University’s enrollment exceeds 39,000 students including over 30,000 undergraduates and over 9,000 graduate and professional students. Academic programs reside in 18 schools and colleges, as well as a medical partnership with Augusta University housed on the UGA Health Sciences Campus in Athens.

The University of Georgia is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, genetic information, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or protected veteran status. Persons needing accommodations or assistance with the accessibility of materials related to this search are encouraged to contact Central HR (hrweb@uga.edu).