The University of Michigan offers competitive postdoctoral research fellowships, coupled with faculty mentoring, professional development, and academic networking opportunities. Fellowships are for one year, but may be renewable for a second year by mutual agreement.

Upon completion of the postdoc, candidates will be considered for one of our tenure-track positions (assuming their work merits that consideration). Therefore, a successful candidate for this fellowship must be sufficiently outstanding that he or she could be considered for a permanent faculty position.

Applicants' research may be in any of the many areas that contribute to the School of Information's mission. This includes, but is not limited to, the areas of our five open faculty positions. To learn more about SI, our current faculty and research, and our mission, see si.umich.edu.

We specifically seek applicants whose research, teaching and service will contribute to diversity and equal opportunity in higher education. For example, eligible applicants might come from underrepresented groups, have faced economic hardship, be first-generation college graduates, or work on topics related to these areas. See other examples of qualifying backgrounds and activities or consult complete information about this program.

Each applicant must specify a faculty mentor at the U-M School of Information. This faculty mentor must be contacted in advance of application and express a willingness to mentor the applicant if she or he is selected.

For all SI positions, we favor candidates whose research interests complement our existing expertise in such areas as computer-supported cooperative work; digital archives and preservation; human-computer interaction; incentive-centered design and information economics; information seeking, sharing and use; Internet-scale data, network and text analysis; social computing and informatics. The mission of the School of Information is to create knowledge so people can use information and technology to build a better world, and to educate socially-engaged information professionals. A successful candidate will be committed to, and will directly contribute to our goal of being the best research and teaching institution in socially engaged information and computing.

The school is home to a dynamic and vibrant research and teaching program, with 35 FTE faculty, over 50 doctoral students, and over 400 students in its professional program, the Master of Science in Information. The school is commencing a new master’s program, in Health Informatics, in fall 2012, offered jointly with the School of Public Health. In partnership with other units, we recently launched an undergraduate informatics major.

Founded in 1817, the University of Michigan has a long and distinguished history as one of the first public universities in the nation. It is one of only two public institutions consistently ranked among the nation's top ten universities. The university has one of the largest health care complexes in the world and one of the best library systems in the United States. With more than $1 billion in research expenditures annually, the university has the second largest research expenditure among all universities in the nation. The university has an annual general fund budget of more than $1.4 billion and an endowment valued at more than $7.57 billion

Qualifications:
 

• Ph. D. in a relevant area, such as psychology, economics, sociology, computer science, informatics, or other areas in the social or technical sciences
• Demonstrated potential for successful teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level
• Demonstrated potential for high scholarly impact
• A strong commitment to teaching, interdisciplinary research, and cultural diversity

Deadline for an initial inquiry is October 24, with a full application due on November 1.

Important: Potential candidates must contact our Faculty Search chair, Paul Edwards (pne@umich.edu), no later than October 24. In your e-mail, please:
 

• Describe how you would contribute to increasing diversity and equal opportunity, in terms of the criteria described above and on the associated links
• Identify the School of Information faculty member you would like to have as a mentor
• Include a CV

Please do not submit a complete application until you have received a reply from Professor Edwards.

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action educator and employer.