Working/Functional Title
Ast Prof/Asc Prof/Prof Fixed Term
Position Summary
The College of Engineering at Michigan State University (MSU) invites applications for a fixed-term faculty position in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE). Applications will be considered at all ranks (Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor), with particular interest in candidates who bring several years of relevant experience.
This is an annual (12-month), end-dated position that may be renewed annually. The position is anticipated to continue for five years, with the potential to transition to a tenure-system position following the five-year period. Continued employment and annual renewal depend on satisfactory performance, continued funding availability, and mutual agreement between the faculty member and the College of Engineering.
Candidates must have an earned PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related discipline at the time of appointment, with an anticipated start date of August 16, 2027. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a sustainable, externally funded, and internationally recognized research program; contribute significantly to their discipline through scholarly work; demonstrate effective teaching and mentorship of both undergraduate and graduate students; and participate in institutional and professional service. Candidates are encouraged to discuss how their research could have an impact and complement the department's existing strengths.
Other qualifications include strong leadership and interpersonal skills, excellent written and oral communication skills, and an ability to work in a collaborative research environment. Joint appointments with other engineering departments are possible, considering existing strengths and capabilities and the candidate’s preferences. Successful candidates are expected to elevate MSU's reputation through their professional activities.
Target Area: AI and Cybersecurity
The target area encompasses two complementary themes, and we seek applicants with expertise in one or both: 1) security of AI and 2) AI for security.
Security of AI focuses on protecting AI systems, data, models, and users from adversarial attacks and unintended behavior, including data poisoning, prompt injection, model theft, privacy leakage, and unsafe outputs. Approaches include secure data practices, robust training, runtime monitoring, access control, formal verification, and verification-aware programming languages. It also includes ensuring that increasingly capable and autonomous AI agents remain aligned with their intended objectives and operational constraints and do not exhibit unintended, deceptive, or harmful behavior.
AI for security advances cybersecurity through AI-driven vulnerability discovery, malware analysis, intrusion detection, fraud prevention, threat intelligence, and automated response. These methods enable the analysis of large-scale security data and the detection of emerging threats.
Together, these directions aim to make AI systems more trustworthy and resilient while making cybersecurity more adaptive, scalable, and proactive.
Community of Respect and Innovation
At Michigan State University’s College of Engineering, we believe that education and innovation are strongest when built on mutual respect. Guided by MSU’s land-grant mission, we are dedicated to advancing knowledge, expanding access to education, and creating solutions that serve the common good. We are committed to a community where each person is respected, supported, and empowered to thrive—engineering with respect, innovating with purpose, building with trust, and growing through resilience. Learn more about our Community of Respect and Innovation.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.
Required Degree
Doctorate -PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
Minimum Requirements
- Have an earned PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a closely related discipline at the time of appointment.
- Potential for high-quality instruction and mentoring at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
- Demonstrated ability and/or potential to provide service to the Department, the University, and the profession, and to work with students and faculty from a variety of backgrounds.
- For Assistant Professor candidates: strong potential for high-quality research likely to result in top-level publications and national recognition.
- For Associate/Full Professor candidates: an established national reputation for original and influential research, with demonstrable evidence of continued growth in national status.
-
Desired Qualifications
- Demonstrated leadership ability, with strong interpersonal skills and the capacity to build effective working relationships across diverse teams.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to convey complex information clearly to varied audiences.
- Proven ability to thrive in a collaborative, interdisciplinary research environment.
Required Application Materials
-
- A detailed CV.
- A cover letter summarizing your qualifications.
- A one-page statement of teaching and mentoring philosophy.
- A one-page statement of research philosophy and vision.
- Names and contact information for at least three professional references.
In your application, please describe the potential impact of your work and how it aligns with the existing strengths of the Department, College, or other programs at MSU.
Special Instructions
Review of applications will begin on December 1, 2026, and continue until the position is filled. Please direct questions about this position to the search committee chair, Prof. Borzoo Bonakdarpour, by email at faculty-search-chair@cse.msu.edu.
Review of Applications Begins On
12/01/2026
Website
https://engineering.msu.edu/departments/cse
Department Statement
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering has robust research programs spanning artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, biometrics, computer vision, cybersecurity and privacy, data science, evolutionary computation, machine learning, networking, formal methods, and software engineering. The Department is home to 55 tenure-system faculty members and teaching specialists, including four endowed professors, 13 NSF CAREER Award recipients, and one member of the National Academy of Engineering, with annual research expenditures exceeding $11 million.
The Department offers accredited B.S. degree programs in Computer Science and Computer Engineering, as well as a B.S. degree in Computational Data Science. Graduate programs include M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and an interdisciplinary M.S. degree in Data Science offered in collaboration with the Department of Statistics and the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering.
For additional information about the CSE Department, please visit https://cse.msu.edu/.
About The College of Engineering
For more than 130 years, the MSU College of Engineering has advanced, shared, and applied engineering knowledge to tackle society's most pressing challenges. Guided by MSU's land-grant mission, we prepare exceptional graduates, conduct breakthrough research, and drive innovations that improve lives locally and globally. As an R1 institution, we support our faculty and students with world-class facilities and robust infrastructure for discovery and application, underscored by the college's $71 million in annual research expenditures.
Our eight departments span computational sciences, energy, health, manufacturing, materials, mobility, security, and sustainability. Through strong collaboration and mentorship, the college provides an environment where faculty can thrive, lead transformative research, and help shape the technologies and solutions of the future.
MSU Statement
Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 160 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.
