Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology

The salary range for this position is $106,800 - $130,700 (annual). "Off-scale salaries" and other components of pay, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions, qualifications, and experience.

The Department of Food Science and Technology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis is recruiting an Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology with a preferred emphasis in Genomics and Ecology of Microbial Foodborne Pathogens. This is an academic year (9-month), tenure track Assistant Professor position that includes an appointment in the California Agricultural Experiment Station (AES).

Faculty members who hold an Agricultural Experiment Station appointment have a responsibility to conduct research and outreach relevant to the mission of the California Agricultural Experiment Station. Participation in outreach programs and performance of university service are also expected.

The appointee is expected to establish a competitively funded research program in the genomics and ecology of foodborne pathogens, including their interactions within complex microbial communities in food systems to address critical or emerging issues in microbial food safety. The successful candidate will develop an internationally recognized research program that advances understanding of how foodborne pathogens persist in various pre- and post-harvest handling, storage, transportation, and processing operations.

The program will explore how these pathogens are transferred through food systems by considering genetic, physiological, and ecological properties, with the goal of informing new intervention strategies. Approaches may span molecular genetics, functional genomics, pan genomics, experimental microbiology, and ecological analysis, along with computational biology, data science, and artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) methods where applicable to the candidate's research program.

Candidates whose work incorporates or extends toward genomic, metagenomic, or ecological dataset analysis, predictive modeling of pathogen emergence and persistence, or the use of AI/ML approaches to interpret large-scale food-system and environmental datasets are especially encouraged to apply, as these are growing priority areas for the department. Emphasis will also be placed on connecting fundamental or applied pathogen research to broader food-system risks.

The candidate will be poised to engage across disciplines, collaborating with colleagues as needed to translate biological findings into actionable knowledge for food safety management.

The appointee will be responsible for developing and teaching undergraduate and graduate level courses. Examples of existing courses include FST
104 - Food Microbiology and FST 108 - Food Sanitation. Furthermore, the appointee will be expected to develop one or more new courses focused on food safety and the genomics of foodborne pathogens. The appointee is also expected to mentor undergraduate and graduate students and participate in curricular development. Participation in and development of public outreach efforts and/or community engagement programs, and performance of departmental and university service is expected.

This position is expected to collaborate with Cooperative Extension specialists and advisors, partners in allied industries or other appropriate public stakeholders.

This recruitment is conducted at the assistant professor rank. The resulting hire will be at the assistant professor rank, regardless of the proposed appointee's qualifications.

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