Transmission of Metabolic Disease and Translational Biotechnology | Tenure Track

Online applications must be received before 11:59pm on:

November 1, 2026

If a date is not listed above, review the Applicant Instructions below for more details.

Available Title(s):

270-NN_FACULTY - Assistant Professor, 280-NN_FACULTY - Associate Professor

Business Title:

Transmission of Metabolic Disease and Translational Biotechnology | Tenure Track

Employee Type:

Faculty

The Opportunity:

The School of Molecular Biosciences (SMB) at Washington State University (WSU) invites applications for two full-time, 12-month, permanent tenure-track faculty positions at the rank of Assistant and/or Associate Professor, depending on qualifications. The positions will be filled through one coordinated search.

Across both positions, the principal considerations will be scientific excellence, the importance of the problems addressed, the ability to fill a genuine expertise or capability gap, complementarity with existing faculty, and contributions to research, teaching, mentoring, collaborative funding, and interdisciplinary program development.

Each position is expected to be approximately 65% research, 25% teaching and mentoring, and 10% service, with final effort distribution negotiable and determined at the time of offer. Successful candidates will establish or maintain innovative, rigorous, and extramurally funded research programs; publish influential scholarship; mentor undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees; and contribute to undergraduate and graduate instruction.

Teaching may include molecular and cellular biology, genetics, genomics, epigenetics, developmental or reproductive biology, metabolism, biotechnology, bioengineering, computational biology, bioinformatics, quantitative reasoning, or related areas. Successful candidates will also contribute to interdisciplinary grants, centers, shared platforms, training programs, technology development, and academic service. Associate Professor appointees will provide additional intellectual and programmatic leadership appropriate to rank.

Applicants may align primarily with either of the following complementary themes or contribute across both.

THEME 1 - TRANSMISSION OF METABOLIC DISORDERS ACROSS GENERATIONS:

SMB seeks candidates whose research investigates how environmental, lifestyle, and biological factors influence metabolic health and disease across generations. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying developmental programming, metabolic disease susceptibility, and intergenerational/transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary team focused on elucidating the developmental and germline origins of chronic and metabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, reproductive aging, and related conditions.

Through collaborative and integrative research, the candidate will contribute to advancing fundamental understanding of disease etiology and identifying new opportunities for prevention and intervention. This research theme is a major focus of the Center for Lifestyle, Environment, Epigenetics, and Reproductive Health (CLEERH), and the successful candidate is expected to serve as a core contributor to the CLEERH's research, training, and outreach activities.

THEME 2 - TRANSLATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ENABLING PLATFORMS:

SMB seeks candidates who develop innovative technologies and/or platforms that move biological discoveries toward practical applications. Relevant areas include nanobiotechnology; advanced drug or biologic delivery; precision gene editing, including base or prime editing; protein or genetic engineering; high-throughput screening; biosensors and diagnostics; tissue or organ engineering; biomaterials; and related translational technologies.

Preferred candidates will have a demonstrated capacity to build and lead a highly collaborative research program that spans multiple research groups within SMB, fostering partnerships that accelerate discovery, translation, therapeutic and diagnostic development, biotechnology innovation, and commercialization.

The anticipated start date is July 1, 2027, or another mutually agreed-upon date.

Annual 12-Month Salary:

Assistant Professor $130,000–$145,000 | Commensurate with experience and qualifications

Associate Professor $150,000–$170,000 | Commensurate with experience and qualifications

In accordance with RCW 49.58.110, the above salary reflects the full salary range for this position. Individual placement within the range is based on the candidate’s current experience, education, skills, and abilities related to the position. Successful candidates typically begin up to mid-point of the salary range.

Benefits: WSU offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes paid sick and vacation leave; paid holidays; medical, dental, life and disability insurance package for employees and dependents; retirement; deferred compensation, optional supplemental retirement accounts. For additional information, please review the detailed Summary of Benefits offered by WSU for Faculty and Total Compensation.

Required Qualifications for all ranks:

• Doctoral degree (Ph.D., M.D., D.V.M., or equivalent) in a relevant biological, biomedical, computational, quantitative, or related field is required by the time of hire.

• Demonstrate the ability to conduct rigorous research, publish influential peer-reviewed work, collaborate effectively, and contribute to high-quality undergraduate and graduate education.

Required Qualifications for Assistant Professor:

• Demonstrate a strong record of research accomplishment and clear potential to establish an innovative, and extramurally funded research program.

Required Qualifications for Associate Professor:

• Established record of high-quality scholarship, sustained or ongoing extramural funding, effective mentoring, and national or international recognition appropriate for rank and tenure.

Candidates must also demonstrate the ability to work collegially with faculty, staff, and students from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences. For more information on the College of Veterinary Medicine’s tenure and promotion guidelines, please see here.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Preference will be given to candidates whose research aligns with one or both themes and adds distinctive, strategically important, and complementary expertise to SMB.

• Preferred candidates will address a clearly defined and consequential problem; bring missing expertise or establish an enabling platform that strengthens multiple groups; use rigorous molecular, cellular, genetic, genomic, epigenomic, physiological, computational, engineering, imaging, or systems-level approaches; and demonstrate potential for collaborative, programmatic, center-level, training-grant, shared-platform, or translational initiatives.

• Intergenerational health candidates should explain how their work connects germline transmission, the environment or lifestyle, and chronic or metabolic disease.

• Translational-biotechnology candidates should explain how their expertise and skillsets can enable unique discoveries and advance translation across multiple biological areas.

• Experience or interest in intellectual property, industry partnerships, commercialization, or translation into clinical, veterinary, agricultural, or public health applications is desirable.

Position Sponsorship Eligibility: May be eligible for work visa sponsorship

About SMB:

Washington State University's School of Molecular Biosciences (SMB), within the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), is working to solve some of societies’ biggest challenges by building highly collaborative multidisciplinary teams anchored to problem-based investigation. Existing strengths include expertise in germ cell and reproductive tract biology, skin biology, DNA repair and chromatin biology, epigenetics, animal biotechnology, microbiology, and immunology.

SMB fosters a collaborative, intellectually curious, and interdisciplinary environment committed to scientific excellence. Faculty are encouraged to take initiative, mentor trainees, engage across fields, and build productive collaborations. The School seeks to strengthen the translational impact of fundamental discovery through new technologies, diagnostics, therapeutics, and other meaningful applications. Additional information is available at https://smb.wsu.edu/.

Area/College: College of Veterinary Medicine
Department Name: School of Molecular Biosciences
Location: Pullman, WA

Screening Date: Applicant screening will begin October 26, 2026

Application Instructions: Applicants must upload the following required documents to their online application. Application materials should clearly communicate how the applicant meets all required qualifications and additional requirements.

1) Cover letter identifying the rank sought and relevant theme or themes;

2) Curriculum vitae;

3) Statement of research accomplishments and future plans;

4) Statement of teaching and mentoring philosophy and interests

Applicants should explain the problem their research addresses, the expertise or enabling capability they would add to SMB, how their work complements existing faculty, and how they would contribute to interdisciplinary research, education, and translation. References may be contacted later in the recruitment process. Questions may be directed to Laurilee Kramer at [email protected].

External candidates, upload all documents in the “Application Document” section of your application.
Current WSU Employees (internal candidates), before starting your Workday application, please use these instructions to update your education and experience in your worker profile in Workday. Internal candidates, upload all documents in the “Resume/Cover Letter” section of your application.

Documents may be submitted as one file or separate files. Applicants are encouraged to upload as a PDF, if possible.

Reference contact information will be requested later in the recruitment process through Workday.

Background Check: This position has been designated by the department to require a background check because it requires access to children or vulnerable adults as defined by RCW 74.34, engages in law enforcement, requires security clearance, interacts with WSU students in a counseling or advising capacity, has access to personal identifying and/or financial information, unsupervised access to university buildings/property, or other business-related need. A background check will not be completed until an initial determination of qualification for employment has been made.

Full time

Washington State University encourages all qualified candidates to apply, including members of the military and veterans, and persons with disabilities.

WSU employs only U.S. citizens and lawfully authorized non-U.S. citizens. All new employees must show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

WSU is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact Human Resource Services: 509-335-4521 (v), Washington State TDD Relay Service: Voice Callers: 1-800-833-6384; TDD Callers: 1-800-833-6388, 509-335-1259(f), or [email protected].

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More information, resources, and contact information are available here: https://ccr.wsu.edu/notice-of-nondiscrimination/