Asst. /Assoc. Professor (F3/F4) Outer Solar System Science & Space Grant Assoc. Director (0088508)

Posting number: 2026-01389

Department: University of Hawai'i at Manoa - School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology

Division: Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology

Job classification: ASSISTANT/ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Posting type: Open

Categories: Research, Faculty - Science, Teacher

Summary

Title:                                Assistant Professor (F3) or Associate Professor (F4), Outer Solar System Science and Space Grant Associate Director
Position Number:          0088508
Hiring Unit:                     Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology/SOEST
Location:                         University of Hawai’i at Manoa
Date Posted:                   06/25/2026
Closing Date:                  Continuous recruitment - application review begins 08/10/2026
Salary Information:        Salary will be competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience
Monthly Type:                 9-month appointment, 11 month if appointed as Associate Director
Tenure Track:                  Tenure
Full Time/Part Time:       Full-time
Temporary/Permanent:  Permanent
Funding:                           General

Other Conditions:

If appointed as Associate Director and temporarily converted to an 11-month appointment, the selectee will receive nine (9) months of annual salary support from state funds. The selectee will be required to raise remaining months of salary support from extramural grants and contracts.  Anticipated start date is January 1, 2027.

The Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UH Manoa), seeks applicants for a full-time, permanent, tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor (F3M11) or Associate Professor (F4M11). We are looking for a highly talented individual with interests in outer solar system science who is positioned to take advantage of existing and upcoming high-priority missions and complements existing strengths and expertise in HIGP. Specific focus areas can include but are not limited to: icy ocean worlds and their habitability; giant planet and satellite interiors, atmospheres and surface geology; and small bodies, including trans-Neptunian objects and exoplanets; astrobiology in outer solar system environments; and laboratory, theoretical, computational, or observational studies of planetary materials relevant to these worlds. The successful candidate must pursue and obtain extramural funding to support a vigorous research program.

The selectee may also be appointed to serve as Associate Director of the NASA Hawai’i Space Grant Consortium (HSGC) and may assume the role of HSGC Director after successful completion of their probationary period.

Institution:

HIGP (higp.hawaii.edu) is a multi-disciplinary unit in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the UH Manoa, an R1 research university.HIGP solves fundamental problems in Earth and planetary science by the invention, development, and application of state-of-the-art instrumentation, exploration, measurement, and data analysis technologies and techniques. Programs embrace research and education in in-situ analysis of extra-terrestrial materials from comets, asteroids, meteorites and planetary sample return to study the evolution of the Solar System; remote measurements of the surface and atmospheres of the planets and moons of our Solar System, including Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, and icy bodies; invention and fabrication of hyperspectral imagers, spectrometers, and other instruments to make those measurements; small satellite (and CubeSat) technologies for exploration of the Earth and planets; materials science and mineral physics for characterizing the properties of materials under extreme conditions; geological and geophysical processes of importance to the State of Hawai‘i, including seismic, volcanic, and tsunami hazards, as well as programs related to the water and energy security of Hawai‘i (the Hawaii Groundwater and Geothermal Resources Center). HIGP maintains state-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation to support this work, including the Hawai‘i Space Flight Laboratory (a collaborative venture with the College of Engineering), the W.M. Keck Cosmochemistry Laboratory, the Advanced Electron Microscopy Center, and the InfraSound Laboratory.

HIGP facult