Assistant or Associate Professor – Space Biology / Astrobiology

This is a 9-month tenure-accruing position that will be 30% teaching (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences) and 70% research available in the Microbiology and Cell Science Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (Space Life Sciences Laboratory, Merritt Island FL).

Responsibilities

• Teach a 3-credit course in space life sciences to students at the undergraduate and graduate levels annually.
• Train PhD students and contribute to the graduate curriculum.
• Assist with curriculum development for new BS, MS, and PhD programs in space sciences currently being formed across campus.
• Teach courses within the new space sciences programs.
• Conduct research in space biology, space biomanufacturing, and/or astrobiology (e.g., extremophile research).
• Actively seek contract and grant funding to support the research program, with federal competitive grant support being particularly important.
• Engage in extension activities in the program area.
• Engage in scholarly activities related to instruction, including:
  • Teaching undergraduate and/or graduate courses.
  • Advising and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.
  • Participating in curriculum revision and enhancement.
  • Seeking funding for the teaching program.
  • Supervising undergraduate and graduate research and creative work.
  • Publishing teaching-related scholarship.
  • Producing learning tools.
  • Engaging in professional development activities related to teaching and advising.
• Support and participate in the CALS Honors Program, distance education, and international education.
• Support and engage in the IFAS land-grant mission across research, teaching, and extension.

Requirements

• A doctorate (foreign equivalent acceptable) in the life sciences with a strong background and experience in any aspect of space biology and/or astrobiology.
• Demonstrated skills in verbal and written communication.
• Experience in procuring extramural funding.
• Commitment to the mission of the Land-Grant system.
• Commitment to UF core values.
• Experience in publishing peer-reviewed papers as first author.

Preferred Qualifications

• Postdoctoral experience.
• Successful grantsmanship.

About the Institution

The University of Florida is a Land-Grant, Sea-Grant, and Space-Grant institution, encompassing virtually all academic and professional disciplines, with an enrollment of more than 56,000 students. UF is a member of The Association of American Universities.

The University of Florida is home to HiPerGator 3.0, one of the most powerful supercomputers available to a university in the world, featuring 49,920 AMD cores for traditional computing and 608 NVIDIA GPUs for artificial intelligence analyses.

The University of Florida Genetics Institute (UFGI) is an interdisciplinary institute promoting excellence in genetics and genomics through research, education, and outreach, with over 220 faculty members from multiple colleges at UF. UFGI also administers the Genetics & Genomics Ph.D. program.

The Microbiology and Cell Science Department has 29 tenured or tenure-track faculty, 7 lecturers, 79 PhD students, 700 MS students, and 1,000 undergraduate students. The department emphasizes computational and bioinformatics training, with NASA as the largest external funding source. Florida’s aerospace sector, centered around Kennedy Space Center, is experiencing rapid growth, positioning the incumbent to establish a research program leveraging local momentum in space sciences and astrobiology.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) includes the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station, the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Florida Sea Grant program. IFAS encompasses 16 on-campus academic departments, 12 Research and Educational Centers (REC) throughout the state, 6 research sites, and Florida Cooperative Extension Service offices in all 67 counties. IFAS employs nearly 4,500 people, including approximately 990 salaried faculty and 1,400 permanent support personnel.

This position is available starting January 2027.