Professor of Maize Genomics

Job no: 541516

Work type: Tenure-Track Faculty

Location: Main Campus (Gainesville, FL)

Categories: Biology/Life Science, Agricultural Sciences

Department:  - AG-HORTICULTURAL SCIENCES

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Candidates for the faculty rank of professor shall be qualified for the rank of associate professor and, in addition, be a recognized national or international authority or an outstanding teacher in their field or specialization. A candidate for this rank must have a distinguished record of achievement beyond the associate professor level.

This is a 9-month tenure-accruing position that will be 20% teaching (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences), 80% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station), available in the Horticultural Sciences Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Florida. This assignment may change in accordance with the needs of the unit. The programmatic emphasis for this position centers on the intersection of evolutionary plant genomics, and artificial intelligence to identify foundational gene networks underpinning maize domestication, anthropogenic improvement and adaptation to cultivated systems and environmental change.

An expectation of this position is a leadership role in large-scale pangenomic initiatives to characterize the diversity of crops like maize and its wild relatives, providing critical crop agnostic resources for crop improvement and breeding.

Research areas of concentration include the following:
Genetic architecture of adaptation:
Investigating how maize adapts to diverse and changing environments, with a particular focus on adaptations to abiotic stresses from highlands across the Americas;
Domestication and introgression:
Analyzing the genomic signatures left by the domestication of teosinte and the subsequent gene flow between wild and domesticated varieties;
Computational tool development:
Creating and benchmarking artificial intelligence pipelines for de nova genome assembly, transposable element annotation, and genomic quality assessment. The expectation for this position includes successful acquisition of extramural funding from sources like NSF (PGRP, CNIC, etc.), FFAR, USDA-ARS, and/or industry partners sufficient to support the research program. Publications for this position are expected to appear in top 5% and Q1 journals as appropriate for the audience of the data including, Nature, Science, Nature Genetics, Genome Biology, Plant Cell and the Proceedings of the National Academy Sciences.

The successful candidate will engage in scholarly activities related to instruction, including teaching undergraduate and/or graduate courses, advising and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, participating in curriculum revision and enhancement, seeking funding for the teaching program, supervising undergraduate and graduate research and creative work, publishing teaching-related scholarship, producing learning tools, and engaging in professional development activities related to teaching and advising.

Faculty are encouraged to support and participate in the CALS Honors Program, distance education, and international education. Teaching and co‑teaching courses in the areas of Plant genetics and Genomics is expected via existing courses, such as Advanced Genetics (PCB 5065-4 Cr., Team Taught), Journal Colloquium in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (PCB 7922)
-1 Cr.) and development of a graduate course in Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics and Crop diversity (2-3 credits), based on identified gaps in the current course offerings and skill set of the candidate.

Tenure will accrue in the Horticultural Sciences Department. Other than research and teaching duties described above, the faculty member will engage in Extension activities appropriately related to the program area. Because of the IFAS land‑grant mission, all faculty are expected to be supportive of and engaged in all three mission areas—Research, Teaching and Extension—regardless of the assignment split specified in the position description.

The University of Florida is a Land-Grant, Sea-Grant, and Space-Grant institution, encompassing virtually all academic and professional disciplines, with an enrollment of more than 56,000 students. UF is a member of The Association of American Universities. The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) includes the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences , the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station , the Florida…