Department Paves Way for High-Performing Young Professors

The Department of Physics and Astronomy is proud of its assistant professors who have garnered $15 million in financial support during their first few years at Rutgers. Much of that comes from the National Science Foundation’s coveted Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program. CAREER grants give outstanding junior faculty a secure financial footing to establish research programs and share knowledge with students from grade school through graduate school. Department chair Ronald Ransome said 10 of his colleagues have received CAREER awards since 2005 – a number on par with physics powerhouses Cornell and Princeton universities. Today’s bragging rights, however, resulted from two long-term efforts: a 10-year plan to enhance the department’s strength in spite of several anticipated faculty retirements, and a concerted effort begun during the 1960s to make physics a keystone in Rutgers’ ascent as a top-ranked research university. Ransome is quick to credit senior colleagues, previous department chairs, and university administrators for the department’s success. He spoke to Rutgers Today about the foresight and decisions it took to establish today’s crop of high-performing young professors.

Rutgers Today: What was the department’s situation in 2000, and how did it perceive the need to act?

Ransome: We expected 10 or so faculty members to retire through the middle and end of the decade. At the same time, we wanted to expand the department and strengthen its presence in some fields. We were strong in theoretical condensed matter physics – the study of solid materials. We wanted to strengthen our astronomy, biophysics, and experimental condensed matter physics research. So our plans targeted recruiting and hiring in those fields.

Rutgers Today: How did that play out?

Ransome: We hired people in astronomy and biophysics right away, but we lost momentum mid-decade. Not only did we have the expected retirements, but several members were lured to positions at other top-ranked universities, especially in one of those groups we were trying to strengthen – astronomy.

Rutgers Today: How did you recover?

Ransome: We redoubled our efforts to hire more astronomers and astrophysicists, and this time we were able to build a very good group. We also hired an experienced condensed matter experimentalist from Bell Labs as it cut back its materials science research program. In fact, he is our second physicist with Bell Labs roots. And these people knew of new talent we could recruit. At the same time, we kept our eyes on the established fields. We recruited two excellent young faculty in condensed matter theory. And around mid-decade, we strengthened our high energy theory group.

Rutgers Today: What made Rutgers attractive to the new recruits?

Ransome: A balance of strong senior people and promising junior people, and collaboration among our different fields, especially the theorists and experimentalists. Our individual fields also offer access to facilities that recruits find attractive for their research, such as astronomy’s role in the large South African and South American telescopes, and high energy experiment’s role in Europe’s Large Hadron Collider.

Rutgers Today: What did you learn?

Ransome: You have to keep looking forward. It’s a slow procedure. You have to have a long-term plan, but you also have to be ready to pounce on targets of opportunity, such as the condensed matter theorists and the Bell Labs experimentalist.

The other key is flexibility. One of these new condensed matter theorists joined us right out of his doctoral program at Princeton. It’s unusual to hire someone who hasn’t completed a postdoctoral assignment or two. We hired a high energy experimentalist who earned her undergraduate and doctoral degrees at Rutgers and a condensed matter experimentalist who did his doctoral and postdoctoral work here. Academic departments don’t typically hire their own students. But we knew these people well and were confident they’d make valuable contributions.

Rutgers Today: What are today’s challenges?

Ransome: In spite of our goal to grow, we’re actually down by two members over the past decade. We lost nine to retirement and seven to other opportunities, and two passed away. And in the coming six years, I count 10 colleagues who may be ready to retire. The state budget situation is not easy to deal with. But the department is in a much stronger position now. We will still be a fairly young department at the end of the next decade. The new professors are excellent at teaching and mentoring students. They have a strong idea of how the department should evolve, and they see a bright future.

See related story in Rutgers Magazine