Boston University, The Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences

4072 24394
Position ID:BU-CDS-CARPROF [#24394]
Position Title: CDS Professor and CAR Director
Position Type:Tenured/Tenure-track faculty
Position Location:Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States [map] sort by distance
Subject Areas: Data Science / AI Governance, Public Interest Tech
Computer Science / Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, Ethics
Artificial Intelligence / Human Factors, Use-inspired
Appl Deadline: finished (2023/02/23, finished 2023/09/26)
Position Description:    

*** this position has been closed and new applications are no longer accepted. ***

Boston University invites applications for a tenured faculty position to be appointed as an Associate or Full Professor in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, starting as early as the Fall of 2024. The successful candidate will be the inaugural Chair of Research at the Center for Antiracist Research, leading the Center’s Office of Research alongside the Associate Director of Research, a full-time staffer.

Founded in 2019 and housed in the top five floors of an iconic 19-story building the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) at Boston University (BU) is a university-wide, degree-granting academic unit that augments and complements the traditional cognate disciplines of computer science, computer engineering, and statistics by laying the foundation for innovation-driven, civic-minded computing to maximize the real-world impact of its research, curricular, and co-curricular programs. Supporting its undergraduate and graduate degree programs, CDS has 43 faculty members who pursue research at the nexus of data science and the landscape of disciplines at BU. Additional information about the computing landscape at BU is available at: https//www.bu.edu/cds-faculty/explore.

Founded in 2020 by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, the Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) is a university-wide center with a mission to build novel ways to understand, explain, and tackle seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice through extensive racial data collection, research-based policy innovation, solutions-focused narrative change initiatives, and practical advocacy campaigns. CAR is organized into four offices: research, policy, narrative, and advocacy. Each office is co-led by a Faculty Chair and a full-time staff director. The Center houses 12 core BU faculty members from a host of disciplines and over 240 faculty affiliates from 30+ academic institutions in New England. Additional information about CAR’s teams, programs, and initiatives are available at https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/the-center

We are seeking candidates of exceptional scholarship with a proven record of high-impact research in computational and data sciences, carried out at the nexus of data science, equity, and racial justice. Qualifications required of all applicants include a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree in a relevant discipline; a prolific and exceptional record of research and teaching; a demonstrated capacity for interdisciplinary collaboration; a robust record of leading complex data-driven social science research projects using leading-edge computational methods; and experience with and commitment to antiracist research.

All candidates pursuing research at the intersection of racial justice and any of the areas spanning data science – including data management and mining, computational statistics, machine learning, mechanism design, algorithmic fairness, and AI – will be considered. Candidates from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

In collaboration with other CDS faculty and students, the successful candidate will bring computing and data science methodologies to bear on antiracist research projects and activities, and will work with other CAR Chairs, faculty, and staff to cultivate collaboration across research, policy, narrative, and advocacy. To that end, the successful candidate is expected to develop a sustained extramurally supported research program, develop curricular offerings leading to specializations in development and use of data science methodologies in the social sciences in general and antiracist applications in particular, mentor graduate students and postdocs engaged in CAR research projects, and assist CAR leadership with strategic planning and fundraising.

BU expects excellence in research and teaching and is committed to building a culturally, racially, and ethnically diverse scholarly community, which is essential to its mission. BU is an AAU institution with a rich tradition of inclusion and social justice. We are proud of our record, including being the first American university to award a PhD to a woman and the university from which Martin Luther King Jr. received his PhD. We are dedicated to increasing participation of all talented faculty and students, especially women and other underrepresented groups in CDS and CAR.

To be considered for this exciting opportunity, qualified applicants must submit a curriculum vitae (CV), statements summarizing their current and future research and teaching plans, and a statement of interest that articulates their vision for leading a research office dedicated to racial data science.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit their application materials through the search web portal at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/24394. Consideration and review of applications will start on March 1, 2023 and will continue on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

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BU is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contractor.

BU conducts a background check on all final candidates for certain faculty and staff positions. The background check includes contacting the final candidate’s current and previous employer(s) to ask whether, in the last seven years, there has been a substantiated finding of misconduct violating that employer’s applicable sexual misconduct policies. To implement this process, the University requires a final candidate to complete and sign the form entitled “Authorization to Release Information” after execution of an offer letter.


Application Materials Required:
Submit the following items online at this website to complete your application:
And anything else requested in the position description.

Further Info:
www.bu.edu/cds
email address
 
Boston University
Center for Computing & Data Sciences
665 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215