Applications are invited for the position of a Tenured Professor and Head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAEN) at Texas A&M University. The incumbent will serve as the chief administrative officer of the Department and as an advocate for the Department’s academic, research, extension, and service programs. The Head reports to the Vice Chancellor and Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. The position provides leadership and support for a broad range of faculty initiatives, which include enhancing and expanding undergraduate and graduate education; increasing contributions to knowledge and science through extramurally funded research; fostering professional development, collegiality, and interdisciplinary collaboration among faculty; securing additional resources; strengthening relationships with diverse stakeholder groups; promoting extension, outreach, and other forms of technology transfer; and promoting communication of science‐based findings to inform public policy and private decision makers. The Department Head is also expected to continue a dynamic, productive, and internationally recognized research program while administering the Department. This is a full-time position with an anticipated start date of September 1, 2020.
The Texas A&M Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering (http://baen.tamu.edu) is a top-ranked department nationally with an ambitious vision for its future at the intersection of agricultural and biological systems and engineering. Founded in 1914 and granted independent departmental status a year later, the Department recently celebrated its Centennial and showcased a historically sensitive renovation of Scoates Hall, the Department’s primary home since 1932. The Department houses 22 faculty members (including two endowed chairs and one endowed professorship) on the flagship campus in College Station and six additional faculty members located at Research and Extension Centers at Dallas, Lubbock, Temple, Weslaco, and Amarillo. The Department offers two undergraduate degree programs: an ABET-accredited degree program in Biological and Agricultural Engineering and a non-engineering, technology-management degree program in Agricultural Systems Management (AGSM). The Department’s undergraduate engineering degree program is jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Engineering. The Department also features outstanding graduate training in its degree programs, which include Master of Science (M. S.) degrees in BAEN (both thesis and non-thesis options) and AGSM and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) in BAEN.
Areas of research emphasis in the Department include bioenergy, food and bioprocess engineering, environmental and natural resources, machinery systems and post-harvest process engineering, bioenergy, cotton engineering, and agricultural systems management. Departmental faculty enjoy productive relationships in and with Texas A&M AgriLife Research; the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service; the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station; the Texas Water Resources Institute; the National Center for Therapeutics Manufacturing; the Norman Borlaug Institute of International Agriculture; the Texas A&M Energy Institute; the Institute of Plant Genomics and Biotechnology; the Natural Resources Institute; the TAMU Supercomputing facility; the Institute for Data Science; the Center for Autonomous Vehicles and Sensor Systems; and the Center for Genomics and Precision Medicine.
Texas A&M University is one of the largest universities in the United States, with nearly 70,000 students from all 50 states and 124 countries. It is supported by a multibillion‐dollar endowment (ranked 4th among public universities) and is a top-20 research enterprise. The Bryan-College Station Metropolitan Statistical Area has more than 265,000 residents and is consistently ranked among the best places to live in the country, with an affordable cost of living and convenient access to major Texas cities.