The College of Engineering cluster hiring initiative was launched in January 2020. The initiative aims to facilitate interdisciplinary strategic hiring within the College to:

• Bridge gaps in existing faculty expertise where a critical new hire could lead to significant advances and increase reputation in that area.
• Catalyze, encourage and foster interdisciplinary research across departments, in innovative and exciting fields of study.
• Increase diversity and improve equity and inclusion.
• Address enrollment growth and strategic teaching needs.

This is a multi-year, faculty-driven process where available positions in the College will be reserved for cluster hires. The final number of approved cluster hires is subject to availability of proviso funds, and Provost approval.

View the Request for Proposals and download a proposal template.

Cluster hire proposals will be evaluated using a rubric that is grounded in the sections of the proposal template and the discussion prompts and ideas from the Feb. 27, 2020 cluster hire event focused on developing strong cluster hire proposals (UW NetID required). Proposals that demonstrate research innovation and impact and which provide thoughtful, specific content throughout all elements of the proposal will be more highly rated than proposals with general descriptions or typical or run-of-the-mill strategies or ideas. The rubric will also positively rate best practice strategies and ideas which may not be novel but are being newly applied to the cluster hire departments, team, process, etc.

Questions? Please review the FAQ.