The Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech seeks applications for a tenure-track faculty position (assistant/associate) in intelligence, embodiment, and learning in robotics, effective August 2025. Given the rapid advancements and increasing integration of intelligence in robotics (including computational intelligence and physical intelligence), we seek candidates focused on fundamental research in robotics and robot learning, with a focus on areas such as vision and language models, continual learning, reinforcement learning, learning from demonstrations, representation learning, and morphological computation, with applications in diverse robotic tasks. We are interested in candidates who can catalyze the integration and analysis of data-driven and model-based techniques in robotics and control systems. Candidates interested in establishing tailored artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning robotic courses for undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply. We seek candidates motivated to contribute to a collegial, interdisciplinary community with a strong tradition of fundamental and applied research.

The Mechanical Engineering Department currently has 76 faculty members and is home to over 1,250 undergraduate and 350 graduate students. Virginia Tech is a public land-grant university, committed to teaching and learning, research, and outreach to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world. Building on its motto of Ut Prosim (that I may serve), Virginia Tech is dedicated to InclusiveVT—serving in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence. Virginia Tech actively seeks a broad spectrum of candidates to join our community in preparing leaders for the world. In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024 Best Colleges report, the College of Engineering’s undergraduate program ranks 13th and the graduate program ranks 31st among all U.S. engineering schools and the Mechanical Engineering Department’s undergraduate program ranks 13th and the graduate program ranks 17th. The Mission of the College of Engineering is to educate and inspire our students to be critical thinkers, innovators and leaders. Our core values are inclusiveness, excellence, integrity, perseverance and stewardship.

Virginia Tech's main campus is located in Blacksburg, VA, in an area consistently ranked among the country's best places to live. In addition, our program in the Washington, D.C., area offers unique proximity to government and industry partners and is also expanding rapidly, with Virginia Tech's exciting new Innovation Campus in Alexandria, VA slated to open in early 2025.