Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Fall 2026 (12)

Applications and nominations are invited for two tenure-track Assistant Professor positions in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK). The ISE Department offers BS MS and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Engineering and MS and Doctor of Engineering degrees in Engineering Management. The Department currently has 13 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and an enrollment of more than 560 students including 268 UG 172 MS and 121 Doctoral students. The Department will increase its faculty size to 25 by 2026 including 16 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and nine full-time teaching or research faculty members. ISE actively interacts with on-campus centers including the Institute for a Secure and Sustainable Environment the Reliability and Maintainability Center the Center for Transportation Research the states Institute for Public Service and so on. Departmental strengths include optimization data analytics machine learning quantum computing reliability and maintainability and operational excellence and their applications in manufacturing logistics and transportation supply chain energy systems sustainability and healthcare systems. The annual externally funded research expenditure is more than $5.4M. The department was ranked 26th among all public institutions in the 2025 U.S. News Best Graduate School Ranking. For additional information about the Department please visit Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) is in the midst of an unprecedented period of growth and success including adding over 30 new faculty to the college as part of ambitious hiring campaigns led by Chancellor Donde Plowman and Dean Matthew Mench. The college has set records in research expenditures enrollment incoming student GPA intellectual property development and USNWR rank in the past three years. New facilities include the state-of-the-art Zeanah Engineering Complex the University of Tennessee Manufacturing and Design Enterprise (TN-MADE) facility and the Innovation South building now under construction that will house UTKs Fibers and Composites Manufacturing Facility (FCMF). TCE currently has 203 tenure / tenure track and 79 non-tenure track faculty in its nine academic departments and offers 11 undergraduate 16 MS and 15 PhD / DE degree programs. Affiliated with TCE and located in Tullahoma Tennessee the UT Space Institute is a hub of aerospace and defense research. The college is also home to eight research centers and three interdisciplinary institutes. With approximately 4300 undergraduate and 1500 graduate students the college sits 29th among public universities in the most recent U.S. News and World Report graduate rankings. Faculty in the college have won 29 early career awards (NSF DOE DARPA AFOSR and ARO) since 2016. In FY24 the college had annual research expenditures of $113.6M.

Available effective August 1 2026 the positions will include competitive compensation and a startup package. The Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee is seeking candidates who have the ability to promote an atmosphere where all members of the university community feel welcome and can thrive.

The successful candidate will be expected to establish and maintain a scholarly and externally funded research program; supervise graduate students; develop and teach courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; and provide service to the Department. The department is interested in candidates who conduct research in systems engineering and modeling optimization quantum computing manufacturing building construction AI foundation and applications agentic AI human-robotics interaction and other ISE-related areas.

An earned doctorate in Industrial Engineering Systems Engineering Operations Research or a closely related field is required and the PhD should be in hand by the time of appointment. The successful applicants will have strong problem-solving and communication skills and the ability to work in an interdisciplinary environment. A strong commitment to teaching excellence and publications in leading journals are expected. Preferred qualifications are teaching experience industrial experience and demonstrated ability to attract external funding.

Key Skills

Experience Working With Students,Classroom Experience,Medical Management,Library Services,Pharmacy Residency,Research Experience,Teaching,Higher Education Teaching,Curriculum Development,Grant Writing,Mentoring,Research Laboratory Experience

Employment Type : Full Time

Experience : years

Vacancy : 1