Academic

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to seek your help filling three Program Director positions at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). As you know, NSF funds research projects across the United States using peer review, and you are receiving this email as someone who has participated in this process, either by submitting or reviewing a proposal over the last few years.

Program Directors are the central figures in NSF�s peer review process, receiving proposals, setting up review panels, and selecting projects for funding. More generally, serving as a Program Director offers a unique opportunity to influence the direction of the field, fostering innovative research and encouraging growth and broad participation in the discipline.

The three Program Director positions are within the Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) Division of NSF�s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. We are looking for people with expertise in one or more of the following areas:

• Computer Graphics
• Computer Vision
• Robotics
• Social Informatics/Human-Centered Computing

http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/getjob.asp?JobId=69125203 and

http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/getjob.asp?JobId=69128050.

For those contemplating serving as a rotator, as a rotator myself I have found the arrangements to be thoughtfully designed. Most rotators serve 2-3 years, and the position includes arrangements to continue to pursue research activities, travel costs to return to your home institution on a regular basis, compensation annualized with summer support to 12 months, and a per diem allowance or moving expense reimbursement to reflect maintaining two dual homes or moving costs, as appropriate. (Further details can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/rotators/ipa.jsp.) The start date is anticipated to be summertime or early fall, based on the candidate’s availability.

Contact:
Interested applicants should apply via USAJOBS by April 11, 2008, at either for permanent employee

or

rotator or visiting scientist employee.

Roughly half of the people who serve as Program Directors never receive news of an opening directly, but instead learn of it via "word of mouth". Please consider whether you would be interested in this position, but if not, please forward this to anyone you think might be a good choice for such a position. It is obviously very important both to NSF and to the research community to recruit talented, experienced, and broad-minded individuals as Program Directors. Your assistance in finding suitable candidates interested in helping guide NSF�s research funding is greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact IIS at koberrig@nsf.gov.

Thanks,

Haym

Haym Hirsh

Director, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems

National Science Foundation