Applying for Academia(Lessons, Hints, and Insights into the Application Process)

Zachariah Heiden (zachariah.heiden@wsu.edu)

February 23, 2017

Current Job Market

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Less than 3% of the academic jobs you apply to, you will hear back from!

Schillebeeckx, M.; Maricque, B.; Lewis, C. Nature Biotech. 2013, 31, 938–941 (doi:10.1038/nbt.2706)

Resources

ISBN: 978-0812223408 ISBN: 978-0205281596 ISBN: 978-05534192429

The Academic Job Search Survival Handbook http://career.ucsd.edu/_files/GAcadJobSearchHandbook.pdf

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My BackgroundZachariah Heiden

• Native of the Midwest (small town in southeast WI)• B.S. in chemistry and chemical engineering from

UW-Madison• Ph.D. in chemistry from University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign• Postdoc at University of Toronto• Postdoc at PNNL • Started at WSU in Fall 2013 as assistant professor in

inorganic chemistry• Faculty candidate for three hiring cycles• Involved with four recent hires in chemistry

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What level of Schools?• PUI (Primarily Undergraduate Institution)

– Smaller schools tend to only have undergraduates and focus on teaching

– Defined as a school awarding less than 20 total Ph.D.’s in the last two years by NSF

• R1 (Research Institution) – Graduate programs– Tend to focus on the research part of a job application

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What do Faculty Do?• Teaching (1/3)

– Contribution to undergraduate courses– Contribution to discipline specific courses (senior

undergraduate or graduate)– Contribution to Gen Ed courses (PUI)

• Research (1/3)– Often largest part of tenure decision at most levels

• Service (1/3)– Departmental (instruments, grants, committees)– School (committees)– Outreach

Types of Positions

• Tenure-track– Assistant Professor– Associate Professor– Professor/Department Chair

• Non tenure-track• Visiting Professor• Temporary/Part-time/Limited Term Lecturer• Lecturer/Instructor

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Chemistry Career Workshops• Academic Employment Initiative (AEI)

– Poster session during Sci-mix of Fall ACS Meetings– Abstract Deadline Mid-April– Great for PUI’s, not so much for R1’shttp://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/graduate/gettingready/academiccareers/initiative.html

• Postdoc to Faculty Workshop – Recently included in Fall ACS Meetings as a workshop– Application end of April– Submit application package for review and commentshttp://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/graduate/gettingready/academiccareers/postoral-workshop-for-prospective-chemistry-faculty.html

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AEI Poster Session

Use your poster to

teach!

Boil down your

complicated research to

simple concepts!

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Where to Look for Job Announcements?

• ACS Careers (http://chemistryjobs.acs.org/jobs) (or other professional society)• HigherEdJobs.com (https://www.higheredjobs.com/search/default.cfm)

(best for PUI’s)• Academic Keys (http://sciences.academickeys.com/seeker_search.php)• Academic Jobs Online (https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/) • Academic Careers Online (http://academiccareers.com/index.html)• The Chronicle of Higher Education (https://chroniclevitae.com/job_search/new) • Science Careers (http://jobs.sciencecareers.org/jobs/) • Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (www.hercjobs.org/)• University Affairs (Canada) (http://oraweb.aucc.ca/pls/ua/ua_re)• Indeed (http://www.indeed.com/)• Human Resources Webpages

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How to apply

What to know about Job Announcements?From ACS Careers

Open search!

Position level

Type of position

Deadline

Application requirements

How to apply

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From ACS Careers

Know what you can teach!

Can apply to this position if can teach inorganic chemistry!

State in cover letter!

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Temporary PositionsFrom ACS Careers

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Know your Deadlines!!

Main Deadlines:• September 1st

• September 15th

• October 1st

• October 15th (biggest deadline)• November 1/2nd

ALL MATERIALS MUST BE IN BY THE DEADLINE!

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Faculty Application Packages

• Cover Letter• CV• Research Proposals (include summary page)• Teaching Philosophy• Transcripts (usually only requested by PUI’s)• Research Budgets (rarely requested at application

stage)• Letters of Recommendation

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Cover Letter

• More important than people think!

• Not specifically asked for• 1-2 pages (keep short)• Make sure to tailor to

school applying to• Tell them why you feel you

can be a good candidate

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The Academic Job Search Survival Handbook http://career.ucsd.edu/_files/GAcadJobSearchHandbook.pdf

Examples of Bad Cover Letters

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Sincerely,Candidate A

Vague and uniformative

Examples of Bad Cover Letters

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CandidateA XXX-XXX-XXX.

Use a professional email address

Examples of Bad Cover Letters

Candidate A

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XXYY

For inorganic position

Use a more formal introduction

Examples of Bad Cover Letters

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Candidate A

Vague and uniformative

Bad Cover Letters

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Atmospheric air pollution and analytical chemistry is not relevant to our search.

Example of a Good Cover Letter

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Followed by a paragraph on brief discussion of mentors and accomplishments in graduate school/postdoc.Keep short, so that whole cover letter is 1 – 1 ½ pages

Usually want to include position #

Examples of a Good Cover Letter

Candidate AContact Info

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Good Things to Include in Your Cover Letter

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Shows that candidate wants to be in the PNW and that the candidate is more likely to come if given an offer!

Shows that candidate is aware of what is already being done at WSU!

CV (Curriculum Vitae)• Not a Resume! (usually 2-3 pages)• Include Everything! (usually 4-5

pages)• Contact Information• Summary of

Qualifications/Interests• Education• Research Experience• Honors and Awards• Teaching Experience• Academic Service• Professional Memberships• Publications (highlight if invited)• Presentations (highlight if invited)• References

Include total number

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Examples of Bad CV’s

Nothing after 2009, with a new job about every two years!

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No publications or

presentations!!!

Examples of Bad CV’s• “Chemical aspects of uranium recovery from seawater by amidoximated electron -beam-

grafted polypropylene membranes”, Candidate A, Author B, Author C, Author D, Author E, Author F, Author G, Desalination, Volume (Year) Pages.

• “Pore-functionalized polymer membranes for preconcentration of heavy metal ions”, Author A, Cadidate A, Author B, Author C, Author D, Talanta, Volume (Year) Pages.

• “Exchanges of uranium(VI)-species in amidoxime functionalized sorbents”, Candidate A, Author A, Author B, Author C, J. Phys. Chem. B, Volume (Issue)(Year), Pages.

• “Adsorptive Preconcentration of Uranium in Hydrogels from Seawater and Aqueous Solutions”, Candidate A, Author A, Author B, Author C, Author D, Industrial Engineering and Chemistry Research, Volume (Year) Pages.

• “Facilited transport of europium (III) ions across fixed -site membrane”, Author A, Candidate A, Author B, Author C, Author D, J. Membrane Science, Volume (Year) Pages.

• “Scintillating optode for preconcentration and determination of anionic radionuclides”, Candidate A, Author A, Author B, Author C, Analytical Methods, Volume (Year) Pages.

• “Silver nanoparticles embedded polymer sorbent for preconcentration of uranium from bio -aggressive aqueous media”, Candidate A, Author A, Author B, Author C, Author D, J. Hazardous Mat., Issue (Year) Pages.

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Publications not in inorganic journals for an inorganic positionIf a publication is not accepted, it does not exist!!!!

Teaching Philosophy• More important for PUI’s• Teaching Interests (new classes, look at program)• Teaching Experience• Outreach? • Don’t just say online teaching• Why is teaching important to you?• Think about good teachers in your life and explain why

effective• How grade/assess student understanding• How structure classroom settings• ~ 1 page for R1, ~3 pages for PUI

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Examples of Bad Teaching Philosophy

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What about the core inorganic classes: 401, 501, & 503? What about 105 & 106?

Example of Bad Teaching Philosophy

Do not include the syllabus for a class as your teaching philosophy!

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Bad Teaching Philosophy

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Teaching philosophy is more than just a list of

classes you would like to teach!

Examples of Bad Teaching Philosophy

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The search was for someone to teach inorganic courses!

Examples of Bad Teaching Philosophy

What about upper division inorganic classes?

Course numbers are primarily for organic classes

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Examples of a Good Teaching Philosophy

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Examples of Good Teaching Philosophy

• Philosophy on graduate and undergraduate education

• Any discussion of teaching innovations (clickers, Learning Catalytics, flipped classroom techniques, …)

• Includes section on mentorship in research, classes want to teach (should be tuned to school and search topic), and any new class you want to develop

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Research Proposals• Start working on them early!• Let your Letter writers/other people see them!• Think outside the box• Something that has impact where you can define yourself!• Read more broadly to get ideas• Need to think about funding• Read National Academies Reports (http://www.nap.edu/) • Graphics are important!! (be able to describe your proposal in

pictures)• Proposals should be about 3 pages (total length of about 10 pages)• Three proposals often required (include summary page)• Do not overwhelm your students• Nice to include undergraduates

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Things Search Committee are Looking for in Research Plans

• Fundable research• Capable of doing the research• Fit into program at University• Will get the candidate tenure• Research is different from advisors• Plans are thought out• Can them carving out a new area and

becoming a leader in the field37

Examples of Bad Research Proposals

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Does not tell us anything!

Examples of Bad Research Proposals

39Not a proposal!!!!!

Project A

Project B

Project C

Candidate A

Idea

Example of Good Summary Page of Proposals

• Each project lists the specific aims, including the tasks to be undertaken

• Makes it seem like the candidate has written proposals before

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Examples of Good Proposals• First proposal is usually your “crown

jewel” that is exciting and has a very good chance of working

• Second proposal is a little more risky• Third proposal is a little odd, but if it

works, it will transform chemistry• Proposal Components

• Background and Significance• Project Plan

• Ligand Design• Specific Examples• Extensions

• Summary• References

Candidate A

Research plan:At Washington State University, I wish to build a strong group focused on both synthetic inorganicand organic chemistry. This research statement describes three programs aimed at developing a synergy between inorganic, organic, main-group and organometallic chemistry. The first project involves the synthesis of inorganic stuff (Figure 1, left). This project emphasizes the synergy between the disciplines of chemistry that we wish to develop. Indeed, the modularity of our proposed ligand platform will allow us to use inorganic synthesis to create unique tools designed to answer specific challenges in the fields of energy, environmental sciences and organic chemistry. The second project will tackle the intriguing issue more inorganic stuff. We will develop a scaffold, capable of mimicking more inorganic stuff at the molecular level (Figure 1, middle). Our goal is to understand the electronic interactions between more inorganic stuff in order to develop better materials that can be applied to electronics, light emission or data storage. The third project’s objective is to develop a new inorganic reagent based on main-group elements (Figure 1, right). The latter are designed to permit nucleophilic reactions in aqueous or biphasic media. This project can also be extended to X-Y bond activation and functionalization, which will find applications in both organic synthesis and degradation of harmful chemicals.

Statement of ResearchApplication for Assistant Professor, Washington State University

Research Budgets

• Startup for Three Years• Don’t be toooooo much! For chemistry, big schools

< $1 million, mid-range schools around $500-$600K• Make a list of wants/needs and things nice to have• Lab space?• Overhead?• Group Size?• Student Cost?• Instruments?

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Bad Startup Budgets

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Too Low!!!!!

Missing a lot of other basic materials

Bad Startup Budgets

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Bad Startup Budget

Asking for over $1,000,000 without

salaries

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1

Bad Startup Budget

• Computational chemistry

• Way too low!

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Good Budget

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Budget is a little high, but gives us something to work with

Good Budget

More reasonable number, but…..

Still needs to consider student salaries

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Letters of Recommendation

• Ask your letter writers for permission!

• Be organized!• Give them ample time to meet

deadlines!• Don’t worry about burdening

your letter writers by applying to >50 schools

• Send them your proposals!!!• Often need three sometimes four

Northwestern University – Due Date : October 15th Please send letter of recommendation to:

Chair of Search Committee Department of Chemistry Northwestern University 2145 Sheridan Road Evanston, IL 60208-3113 Central Michigan University – Due Date : October 15th

Please send letter of recommendation to: Chair Search Committee Department of Chemistry Dow 268 Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859-0001

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Examples of Bad Letters of Recommendation

• For an inorganic position (synthetic desired)

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Candidate ACandidate

Candidate

Candidate

Candidate

Not topic of Faculty Search!!!

Examples of Problematic Letters of Recommendation

This was a problem, because Candidate A was in our applicant pool.

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ZZZ

Dr. XXX and Candidate A from Prof. YYYY’s

ZZZ’s

Examples of Good Letters of Recommendation

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Comparisons to successful faculty members is great!

XX

XXX

Good Things to Have in a Letter of Recommendation

Have letter writers read and comment on your proposals!

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XX’s

XXXXXX

XX XXXX YYYYYYY

Application Time Frame• Apply September-October• Application Review Process

(November-December)• Interview Process (December-

January)• Offers Sent Out (January –

February)• Responses Needed by time

graduate students visit (Feb-March)

• Temporary positions advertised (Jan-Jun)

• Start Position (June-August)

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Faculty Application Review Process• Search committee of 3-5 faculty review and narrow

down applicants to top 10 (usually over email)• Committee meets, narrows list to top 5-10 that will

often be phone interviewed• Top 3 candidates invited for one-two day interview• Search committee meets after each interview and at

the end of all the interviews• Search committee makes recommendation to

Department and Dean• Once offered, negotiations of hiring terms negotiated

with the Dean55

Faculty Application Review Process for R1’s

• Receive 100-200 applications (sometimes 500)• Average chemistry applicant (1 publication/year grad

school and 2 publications/year postdoc)• Often can easily remove ½ as don’t apply to

announcement• Search Committee often from different backgrounds• Invite 3-5 (usually 3) for on site interview (2 days,

give two talks, meet professors, students, deans)

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Faculty Position in Inorganic Chemistry Washington State UniversityWSU invites applications for a full-time tenure track faculty position in inorganic chemistry at the Assistant Professor Level at our Main Campus in Pullman WA. The successful applicant will be expected to establish a nationally and internationally recognized research program, teach at graduate and undergraduate levels and perform service duties for the Department and for WSU. The anticipated start date is August 15th, 2016. Required qualifications include: a Ph.D. in Chemistry or a closely related discipline by date of hire, evidence of potential for establishing and maintaining an outstanding academic research program in inorganic chemistry at WSU, ability to teach graduate and undergraduate courses in chemistry (including service courses), and excellent spoken and written communication skills. Preference will be given to individuals whose research interests complement existing faculty research in one or more of the three designated Departmental focus areas: Energy and the Environment, Chemical Biology, or Materials Chemistry, and to individuals with demonstrated ability to work in a culturally diverse environment. Candidates with one year of postdoctoral experience or equivalent are preferred. The application package must include a statement of interest in the position, a research proposal (including estimated startup requirements), a CV with significant doctoral and/or postdoctoral research accomplishments (as indicated in published peer-reviewed work), statement of teaching philosophy, and three letters of recommendation. Please submit all application materials and arrange to have three letters of recommendation sent to www.wsujobs.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=121509. Review of completed applications will begin on October 2nd, 2015. We expect to make a final decision by January 2016. WSU is an EEO/AA employer. Protected group members are encouraged to apply. For additional information see: www.chem.wsu.edu.

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WSU’s Inorganic Faculty Search 2015

• Average Number of Publications: 19.76• Number is skewed due to some applicants are

already assistant professors• Top Candidates : 12-20 Publications in high profile

journals (ACS, RSC, Wiley, etc.)• Many candidates wanted to teach material science,

physics, physical chemistry, organic, or other topics but inorganic & general chemistry (see teaching philosophy slides)

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Areas Faculty Application is Evaluated On

• Ph.D. Institution/Mentor/Topic/Year• Postdoc Length/Institution/Mentor (gaps?)• Publications Number and Quality• Letters of Recommendation• Research Proposal• Teaching Statement/Area• Written and Spoken English• Current Location• Current Position

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Tips for getting through the first round

Preliminary Screen (Minimal Requirements):• Ph.D. or equivalent degree in an area closely related

to (search field)• Training or research experience in (search field) (as

evidenced by graduate thesis topic, publication record, research funding and/or post-doctoral experience)

• Proposed research focus is in an area of (search field) • Three letters of recommendation• Does the applicant meet the minimal requirements

for this position?60

Tips for getting through the first round

Background:Training and experience including postdoctoralPublications Qualifications to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in (field of study) Potential to supervise undergraduate and graduate research in (field of study)Training in (field of study)

Research: 1. Proposed research

In area of (field of study)Innovation, creativity and originality Feasibility at University/College Potential for funding (mechanism, agencies)

2. Communication skills (writing):

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Questions to Answer in a Faculty Interview

• What do you want to be known for in 5/10 years?• How do you plan to fund this research?• If you could only fund one project, which one would it be and

why?• What is the biggest discovery that could come out of this

research?• What would you say are the top three discoveries in the last

five/ten years?• What do you want to teach?• What instrumentation do you need?• Who would you collaborate with in the department?

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Final Tips from Zach• Start proposals early!!!!• Submit early!• If not sure you want to apply to academics; try to put

together an application package• Keep a notebook of ideas• Get business cards (great place to keep notes)• Have people read your proposals!!!• Get organized!!!!!!• If first don’t succeed, refine application, and apply

again!• Try not to be the first interview for a given search

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