Assistant/Associate Professors, Department of Design Tech

Overview

As part of a unique radical collaboration hiring initiative, the new multicollege Department of Design Tech at Cornell University invites applications for one or more full-time, open-rank tenure-track faculty positions in the Department of Design Tech beginning July 1, 2024, based in Ithaca, New York.

Department Details

Administered by Cornell AAP in partnership with Cornell Human Ecology (CHE), Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Bowers CIS), Cornell Engineering, and Cornell Tech in New York City, the department advances design education, fosters transdisciplinary research, and redefines design tech practice.

Design Tech at Cornell is a leader in design + materials, design + environments, and design + interactions, including new forms of intelligence and living materials and interfaces. We seek design candidates who can engage in the full breadth of the Design Tech curriculum with focused interests and demonstrable expertise in design research areas including AI, Data, and Design; Computational Design and Robotics; Bio-inspired Design; Interaction Design; Digital, Spatial, and Immersive Environments; Responsive Programmable Materials; and Digital Media Design. We are particularly interested in candidates with intersecting expertise in design and emerging technologies.

Recognizing design's integral role in the development of technologies to address complex societal problems and reshape our environments, we seek candidates who engage in convergence research and transdisciplinary design to develop hybrid thinking in design and emerging technologies across multiple fields. The multicollege Department of Design Tech seeks to bridge and enhance design and technology across disciplines to address pressing societal needs and to complement and build upon strengths in the design-focused disciplines in the arts, architecture, science, and engineering, as well as the design professions. Design Tech believes that synergizing advancements in design and technology is not only imperative to design education but also critical for preparing the next generation of designers, engineers, scientists, technologists, and creatives to take on some of the most complex challenges of our time. This requires a radical departure from traditional education and research models in design and science, with a move towards hybrid, transdisciplinary concepts and new models for pedagogy and collaborative research.

As a collaborative, connected, and concentrated unit with a focus on design and emerging technologies, the multicollege department is composed of a multidisciplinary faculty in design, science, and engineering, who co-teach transdisciplinary design courses, studios, and seminars and engage in collaborative research and workshops by sharing resources and moving beyond existing barriers. Design Tech faculty are designers, scientists, engineers, architects, artists, urbanists, and humanists whose work demonstrates how experimental, nonlinear, design-driven philosophies and practices emanating from 3D spatial biology, materials science, human-computer interaction, engineering, and generative design can result in radical advances in both scientific and design research and applied practice. The department's first degree offering is an interdisciplinary two-year M.S. in Design Technology Design Technology that will launch in the 2024–25 academic year.

The new master's degree and the state-of-the-art facilities — including the soon-to-be-completed Design Tech spaces at AAP in Ithaca and Cornell Tech in NYC — reflect both a continuing commitment to excellence and an ongoing investment in design education at Cornell.

About the College

The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University (Cornell AAP) is home to nearly 1000 students, 120 faculty, and 65 staff members who come together from around the world to take up some of today's most urgent challenges and advance research, inquiry, and design to build a more just and sustainable future.

A vital college at one of the nation's foremost research universities, Cornell AAP bridges fields and faculty with five departments, 20 degree programs, 18 faculty-led labs, and the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities, a platform for building partnerships that make a positive impact in our cities and communities nationally and internationally.

Cornell AAP's departments include Architecture, Art, and Planning, as well as the new multicollege Paul Rubacha Department of Real Estate, jointly led by the S.C. Johnson College of Business, and the multicollege Department of Design Tech, administered by Cornell AAP in partnership with Cornell Bowers CIS, Cornell Engineering, the Cornell Human Ecology, and Cornell Tech. The college is housed across three locations (Ithaca, New York; New York City; and Rome, Italy), each offering world-class facilities and cutting-edge technologies.

Cornell AAP is about acts of transformation. We are committed to building a caring, inclusive, and rigorous community around our shared priorities — Creative + Critical Practices, Sustainability + Social Impact, Design + Emerging Technologies, and the Future of Cities + Development — that enable us to reimagine and reshape the world in radically new ways, every day.

Qualifications

A professional degree in either architecture, design arts, engineering design, materials science and design, computer science, computational design, or a Ph.D. in a design-adjacent field where the Ph.D. is the terminal degree is required. Candidate qualifications must include evidence of exceptional strength in design studio teaching as well as visionary practice and/or research work related to design and technology. Faculty responsibilities will include teaching design studios, seminars and lectures at the graduate and undergraduate levels, mentoring and supervising students, advising master's and doctoral students (in a future Ph.D. program), conducting original scholarly or design research, advising thesis students, and contributions to service and shaping the culture and environment of Design Tech, the collaborating departments, and the university.

Required Application Materials

• One-page letter of application, including a brief statement outlining teaching and practice/research objectives and how the candidate's skills and experiences align with the required qualifications and search criteria.
• A full CV that highlights notable achievements.
• One portfolio of design practice or research, pedagogical materials, and student work. A selection of peer reviewed papers and publications are also strongly encouraged.
• List of three references with telephone and mailing/email addresses. (Information about references must be provided at the time of application, but referees will not be contacted without notifying the applicant in advance.)
• We ask applicants for all faculty positions to share their experiences and/or approaches (past, current, or future) to fostering learning, research, service, and/or outreach in a diverse community. Applicants may choose to submit a stand-alone statement or embed the information in other parts of their application materials.
• Application materials are to be submitted digitally.

Deadlines

Review of applications will begin on January 1, 2024, and continue until the positions are filled, with a start date of July 1, 2024.

Benefits

The pay range for this position is $90,000–$140,000, based on the selected candidate's qualifications. A generous benefits package includes start-up research funds, educational benefits, access to wellness programs, employee discounts, health care options, generous paid leave provisions, and excellent retirement contributions. Cornell has been nationally recognized as an award-winning workplace for health, well-being, sustainability, and diversity initiatives.

Questions and Additional Information

Design Technology Search Committee
Department of Design Tech
College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
129 Sibley Dome, Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-7301
607-255-1123
designtech_chair@cornell.edu