Cornell University has opportunities for assistant/associate professors in design and technology to join its Department of Design Tech in Ithaca, USA.

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 design and technology beginning 1 July 2024, based in Ithaca, New York. Design Tech at Cornell is a leader in design plus materials, design plus environments and design plus 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.

Recognising design’s integral role in the development of technologies to address complex societal problems and reshaping 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 arts, architecture, science and engineering as well as the design professions. Design Tech believes that synergising 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 multi-disciplinary 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 Master’s in Design Technology that will launch in the 2024-25 academic year.

The new MS degree in design technology and the state-of-the-art facilities – including the soon to be completed Design Tech spaces at AAP Ithaca and Cornell Tech in New York City – reflect both a continuing commitment to excellence and an ongoing investment in design education at Cornell.

A professional degree in either architecture, design arts, engineering design, materials science and design, computer science, computational design or a PhD in a design-adjacent field where the PhD 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 masters and doctoral students (in a future PhD programme), 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.

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

The College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University (Cornell AAP) is home to nearly 1,000 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 approaches to designing, making and doing that 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, 21 degree programmes, 18 faculty-led labs and the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities, a platform for building partnerships that make change 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 SC Johnson College of Business; and the multicollege Department of Design Tech, administered by Cornell AAP in partnership with Cornell Bowers CIS; Cornell Engineering; the College of Human Ecology; and Cornell Tech. The college is housed across three locations – Ithaca, NY; New York City, NY; and Rome, Italy – each with 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 plus critical practices; sustainability plus social impact; design plus emerging technologies; and the future of cities plus development – that enable us to reimagine and reshape the world in radically new ways, every day.

Required application materials: (to be submitted digitally)

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

All applicants should submit these materials using the university’s online application tool. Please note that any hardcopy materials sent in will not be returned.

For questions and additional information, please contact:

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

Click here to email us.

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

For more information about the department, the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, and Cornell University, please visit:

Cornell University

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Assistant/Associate Professor in Design and Technology