Position Description: The School of Public Policy (SPP) at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), invites applications for Director of the Center for Geospatial Sciences (CGS) and tenured Professor (Associate or Full) in the area of Geographic Information Science (GIScience) and Public Policy. We are seeking an accomplished scholar to join the SPP faculty and provide intellectual and administrative leadership to CGS.

Established in 2017, the mission of CGS is to both carry out fundamental research in GIScience and serve as an enabling science to foster interdisciplinary research at UCR and beyond. Contained in the School of Public Policy, expansion of the reach of CGS to include collaborations with external stakeholders would be valued. CGS has successfully leveraged existing and emerging areas of strength from across UCR departments to obtain research grants from various funding agencies, including NSF, NIH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. This research addresses significant challenges facing our cities, regions, nations, and planet. CGS currently has three core faculty members at the School of Public Policy and Department of Computer Science and 18 affiliates in various disciplines and research centers. CGS has dedicated space for faculty and students and state-of-the-art computing resources.

SPP faculty are committed to excellence and relevance in their public policy research. They routinely collaborate with colleagues across relevant disciplines to obtain insights into the effect and causes of public policies on society. We seek a director who values and supports such collaborations as being essential to sound public policy research. We welcome applications from geoscience scholars with interests in applications in the public policy arena on crucial issues, such as climate change, immigration, health, civil rights and racism, transportation, energy, electoral redistricting, natural resources, social justice, the environment, land use, and/or other areas relevant to public policy.

Required Qualifications: Applicants must have a Ph.D. in geography, computer science, urban planning, engineering, or another relevant discipline that emphasizes theory and applications of geographic information sciences; a strong scholarly record that supports appointment with tenure in the University; and evidence for capacity to provide leadership as a center director.

Desired qualifications: The successful candidate should possess excellent communication skills and an ability to lead research teams; an ability to compete for competitive research grants; experience/interest in engaging with external stakeholders in defining and carrying out research projects; and teaching interests at the intersection of GIScience and Public Policy.

Application and Materials: All materials must be uploaded using UCR's online application system via https://aprecruit.ucr.edu/JPF01508 . Application materials must include:

a) A letter of interest that clearly describes their scholarly areas of interest and training and how it is relevant to public policy
b) Curriculum vitae
c) Statement of research that includes how this research prepares the applicant to lead CGS successfully
d) Teaching statement and teaching evaluations or other evidence of teaching effectiveness
e) Statement of contributions to diversity and inclusion
f) Contact information for 5 references (extramural letters will be solicited by the University for the top candidate)

To ensure full consideration, applications and supporting materials should be received by March 8, 2022. Review of applicants will continue until the position is filled. Salary will be competitive and commensurate with education and experience. The appointment will commence on July 1, 2022.

The UCR School of Public Policy: Established in 2012, the UCR School of Public Policy is one of only four public policy schools in the 10-campus UC system. It is home to the only Master of Public Policy (MPP) program offered by a major research university in inland Southern California and the only public policy school with an undergraduate public policy major in the entire University of California system. We have just launched the first public policy five-year BA-MPP program in the UC system.

Our mission is to train a new generation of forward-thinking public policy leaders equipped to address the complex, interrelated challenges of poverty, disease, illiteracy, climate change, energy security, pollution, and more. Their training is informed by (i) a diverse, interdisciplinary curriculum that emphasizes evidence-based policy research as well as cross-learning from both international and domestic problem-solving experiences, and (ii) a rich internship program that emphasizes experiential learning.