Teaching Professor Positions in Data Science at Rice University

Oct 28, 2018

Position Title:

Assistant, Associate, or Full Teaching Professor, Rice Center for Transforming Data to Knowledge (D2K Lab) & Departments of Statistics or Computer Science, Rice University.

The Rice Center for Transforming Data to Knowledge, informally called the D2K Lab, in conjunction with the Departments of Statistics and Computer Science seeks applicants with strong applied data science experience for multiple, open-rank teaching-track professors.

The D2K Lab is a new center within the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University in Houston, TX. The mission of the D2K Lab is to provide students with immersive, experiential learning opportunities in data science while enhancing data-intensive research at Rice and building partnerships with companies, institutions, and community organizations. This will be achieved through a series of curricular and co-curricular programs and events for students that connect them to real world data science problems from partners and clients.

The D2K Lab will work closely with data science oriented departments in the School of Engineering (Statistics, Computer Science, Computational and Applied Math, and Electrical and Computer Engineering), and all D2K Lab experiential learning courses will be embedded into existing or newly created academic programs and degrees.

The Rice Computer Science department is a vibrant community of 28 faculty members, over 500 undergraduate students, and over 200 graduate students. Teaching and research in the department spans several areas, including computer systems, programming languages, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and interdisciplinary fields. The Rice Statistics department offers both graduate and undergraduate degree programs. Faculty maintain active research groups with focus in modern statistics including Bayesian methods, computational finance, functional data, multivariate analysis, networks or graphical models, probability theory, statistical machine learning, spatial and temporal processes, statistical computing, stochastic processes and optimization.

Candidates for these Teaching Track positions should have a PhD in a relevant quantitative field and have demonstrated potential or a strong record of teaching excellence. Candidates with industry experience or strong applied data science research experience in the areas of healthcare and biomedical research, social science and public policy, energy, finance, or technology are especially encouraged to apply. Each candidate will have an academic home in the Department of Statistics or the Department of Computer Science.

Teaching track faculty positions at Rice University offer promo table career paths for faculty who are committed to excellence in teaching.

The main responsibilities of D2K Teaching Track faculty will be to:

● Co-teach two sections of D2K Lab experiential learning courses each semester.

● Teach one traditional (lecture-style) data science course at the undergraduate or masters level per semester.

● Build and foster partnerships by helping to develop client-sponsored data science projects.

● Mentor students teams on client-sponsored data science projects.

● Conduct research in data science, data science education, or develop data science software.

● Perform service with the D2K Lab and the Department of Statistics or Computer Science in support of data science education.

To apply to these positions, please submit a cover letter, CV, a teaching statement, examples of teaching materials, and optionally, a statement on relevant data science research experience to (Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). Questions regarding this position can be directed to Genevera Allen (d2k), the D2K Lab Faculty Director. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with start dates in January 2019 or summer 2019.

Rice University has undertaken a university-wide data science initiative, funded at roughly $45 million, that has hired eight new faculty members and launched new educational programs. Rice University is well placed to capitalize on the data-rich resources of the…