Tomorrow's professor

Karen Hapgood and Matt Hardin suggest some advice for new engineering academics. The authors say that the most important criterion is the quality of the research, as evidenced by journal papers, citations of work by other researchers, and any grants or prizes that a student have won. Sometimes it can be helpful to match the research interests with the future department, as some departments seek people to integrate with existing strengths, while others want to develop new research areas. One a graduate is offered a position, he will need to negotiate a start-up package, as it is unlikely to be offered unless it is asked for. It is invaluable to have either no teaching or a reduced teaching load for the initial 6-12 month period. Undergraduate projects are useful for getting research projects started and for producing conference papers. The key to success in academia is to balance the workload between teaching and research.