Professor and Director, Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi)

About this position

The University of Chicago invites applications from scholars who will make a major contribution to climate systems engineering and serve as director of the University’s Climate Systems Engineering initiative (CSEi), an initiative within the University’s Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth. CSEi is part of a broader effort at the University to build a substantial research cluster focused on the science, technology, and public policy of climate systems engineering, aimed at advancing our understanding of the potential benefits and risks of these technologies, and educating students who will help guide society’s response to a warming planet. CSEi’s research draws on systems engineering and climate science to study technologies that could reduce the risks posed by accumulated greenhouse gases, including sunlight reflection methods, open-system carbon removal such as enhanced rock weathering, and local interventions to reduce glacial melting. Qualifications: CSEi is headed by a faculty member of the University who is appointed by the Provost based on the recommendation of the Faculty Director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth and a successful tenure review by the home department. The CSEi Director serves as a member of the Institute’s Leadership Committee. The Director must hold a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in a relevant field and be eligible for appointment with tenure at the rank of Professor in an appropriate department or school at the University of Chicago. It is the Director’s responsibility to oversee all CSEi activities, to foster and promote the work of researchers affiliated with CSEi, to be active in fundraising, and to manage CSEi’s operating budget. In partnership with the Faculty Director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, the Director will develop a distinctive vision for CSEi that reflects current faculty scholarship, build on UChicago’s tradition as a premier intellectual destination for visiting faculty and promising early career scholars, and increase fundraising opportunities to grow the initiative. We seek an outstanding leader with a strong record of research achievement and the capacity for visionary academic leadership in an interdisciplinary initiative. The Director will have the opportunity to support future faculty hiring related to the science, technology, and policy of solar geoengineering, open-system carbon removal, and interventions to limit the loss of glacial ice. Applications are welcome from all relevant academic disciplines at the rank of Professor. Candidates need not have done substantial academic work specifically on climate systems engineering if their work has been in closely allied fields. Research on climate systems engineering is inherently interdisciplinary, and we seek a Director with a track record of collaboration beyond their home discipline. The University of Chicago’s culture is highly collaborative. The Director will serve an initial five-ye

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