Tenure Track Associate/Full Professor - Advancing the Sustainability of Critical Technologies

The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University (Ithaca campus) invites applications for a tenured faculty position in Environmental Engineering from exceptional scholars whose work is redefining the sustainability of critical technologies that underpin modern society. We seek a creative, forward-looking experimentalist who is poised to lead transformative advances at the interface of fundamental science and real-world systems. We anticipate hiring at the Associate or Full Professor levels and welcome applicants across all tenure-track faculty ranks (Assistant, Associate, and Full). It is preferred that applicants currently at the Assistant Professor level be nearing promotion.

The successful candidate will establish a bold, internationally recognized research and teaching program that addresses pressing environmental challenges at any scale--from molecular and materials design to process and systems-level implementation. We are particularly interested in researchers developing new experimental approaches rooted in materials science, chemistry, or microbiology to enable breakthroughs in water and air quality, resource recovery, and circular manufacturing. The successful candidate will couple fundamental discovery with a clear vision for translation into scalable, impactful technologies. The School of Civil and Environmental Engineering has recently completed the construction of an approximately 2,000 square foot state-of-the-art wet laboratory that is ready to support a world-leading research program in any of these areas.

We are especially interested in candidates who engage deeply with sustainability challenges emerging from critical, resource- and energy-intensive sectors, including (but not limited to) critical minerals extraction, artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductor manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. The ideal candidate will pioneer and experimentally validate new processes, materials, and treatment strategies that dramatically reduce environmental footprints, enhance resource efficiency, and strengthen system resilience. Their work will not only advance fundamental understanding but also reshape how industrial systems are designed and operated under real-world constraints.

We seek individuals whose research trajectory reflects both intellectual leadership and the capacity to define new directions for the field--advancing sustainable technologies that will be foundational to the next generation of environmental and industrial systems. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. and will be expected to maintain a rigorous, well-funded program of leading-edge research and contribute to the undergraduate and graduate course curricula. The ability to lead large interdisciplinary research teams that take advantage of broad collaborative expertise that exists at Cornell will be viewed favorably.