Job Details

Assistant Professor - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Position Number: 6848138
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Position Type: Engineering - Mechanical

Assistant Professor - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Assistant Professor - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - 38616 Faculty

Description
This position does not include new visa sponsorship for individuals outside the U.S. Candidates must already be in the United States with valid work authorization or an employment-based visa. The university will not initiate sponsorship for those who do not currently hold a U.S. work visa or authorization. If you already have valid U.S. work authorization or are on a visa that permits employment, we welcome your application.

Assistant Professor - Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

College of Engineering and Applied Science

Elevate Your Career at UCCS: Innovate, Inspire, and Impact in the Rockies!

Who We Are

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) is a premier educational institution that prides itself on academic excellence, research, and community engagement and is actively seeking two early career Assistant Professors to join our team! UCCS is committed to academic excellence, professional development, and fostering an environment that supports innovation and student success.

At the base of the Rocky Mountains, Colorado Springs is captivated by its stunning landscapes, making it a paradise for nature lovers. This city is more than its scenery-a mosaic of history, arts, and a vibrant tech scene. We invite you to join a community that cherishes outdoor adventure as much as forward-thinking growth, an exceptional setting for both career and lifestyle.

Salary/Pay Range: $91,000 - $96,000 per academic year. Compensation will be commensurate upon experience and qualifications.

This position is Exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime provisions.

Benefits at a Glance

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Summary

The MAE Department at UCCS is relatively small; thus, all the tenure-track faculty in the department are expected to teach undergraduate and graduate classes while simultaneously developing an externally funded research program. Click here to learn more about the MAE department.

Research

Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering: Assistant Professors are expected to pursue and attract external funding for their research, maintain a strong and regular publication record, and collaborate with existing faculty in one of the traditional areas of mechanical and/or aerospace engineering, particularly in the areas of dynamic systems and controls and thermal and fluidic systems.

MAE research facilities include the Advanced Manufacturing Lab, the Combustion & Acoustics Lab, the Computational Fluids & Thermal Lab, the Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Lab, the Data-Driven Modeling Lab, the Heat Transfer & Applied Thermodynamics Lab, and the MultiPhase & BioFluids Lab. More information can be found by visiting https://eas.uccs.edu/mae/research/facilities.

UCCS provides a state-of-the-art HPC cluster called INCLINE for use by the UCCS and Southern Colorado scientific communities. INCLINE's state-of-the-art hardware was designed to support a broad range of high-performance scientific applications, ranging from compiler design to computational physics. INCLINE has better than 150 TFLOPS peak theoretical performance. This heterogeneous cluster supports codes with distributed (MPI), shared (OpenMP), and GPU (CUDA, NVidia A100) parallelization and has high-speed scratch storage and InfiniBand interconnect systems.

Teaching

The College of Engineering and Applied Science (EAS) at UCCS offers degrees at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels.

The MAE department at UCCS places high priority on teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in mechanical and aerospace engineering topics as supports the department. The department is supportive of faculty disseminating research in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. As such, new courses may be developed based on department needs. All faculty are expected to participate in curriculum maintenance including laboratory courses.

The MAE Department has dedicated instructional lab facilities that include the Fluids Lab, Instrumentation Lab, Materials Lab, Senior Design Prototyping Lab, and a machine shop that contains mills, lathes, computer numerical control (CNC) mills, and 3D printers. The machine shop is staffed full-time by a lab technician who provides training in machine shop practices and support with prototype development. MAE students have access to all of these facilities where they can experiment, design, prototype, and learn to use new equipment. The MAE Department is also building new lab and machine shop facilities for aeronautics, rocketry, and space systems, in support of the new Aerospace Engineering Bachelor's degree program.

Essential Functions

The duties and responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to:

Provide instruction to undergraduate/graduate students.
Maintain a funded research program
Engage in service activities to support the University, city, state, region, nation and/or professional associations.
Provide mentorship to students and junior faculty
Participate in curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation.
Participate in meetings and other activities that advance the mission and goals of the department and college.
Other duties as determined by the Dean and Department Chair.

Tentative Search Timeline

Priority will be given to applications submitted by: February 11, 2026.
Potential interview dates: weeks of 3/16/2026 and 3/30/2026.
Potential start date: August 17, 2026.

CU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment. We are committed to creating a workplace where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity, and we encourage individuals from all backgrounds to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

In accordance with the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, UCCS does not discriminate based on sex in our employment or compensation practices.

Qualifications

A doctoral degree in Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering or a closely related field is required by the date of appointment.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each of the established essential functions and meet the physical and environment demands described satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, ability, physical and environmental conditions required of the employee on the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions, physical and environmental demands.

Applicants with disabilities: If you have a mental or physical impairment, which limits one of your major life activities (e.g. walking, hearing, seeing, speaking, breathing, or learning) and require special accommodations for testing or interviewing, it is your responsibility to notify the office scheduling the interview or test at least 3 working days before the interview or test date. If you need special accommodations at the work site, you must notify the appointing authority or Human Resources.
Special Instructions to Applicants: Applications submitted by February 11, 2026, will receive full consideration. Applications submitted through email or surface mail will not be considered. Please apply at cu.edu/cu-careers (job #: 38616). Official transcripts will be required upon hire. If you have technical difficulties with your application, please contact the CU Careers help desk at 303-860-4200 #5 or cucareershelp@cu.edu. Job related inquiries should be directed to the posting contact. This position does not include new visa sponsorship for individuals outside the U.S. Candidates must already be in the United States with valid work authorization or an employment-based visa. The university will not initiate sponsorship for those who do not currently hold a U.S. work visa or authorization. If you already have valid U.S. work authorization or are on a visa that permits employment, we welcome your application. Application Materials Required: Cover Letter, Resume/CV, List of References, Statement of Research Philosophy, Statement of Teaching Philosophy Application Materials Instructions: Application Materials Instructions: Please identify the job specific minimum qualifications you possess in your cover letter and be sure your CV includes any and all relevant experience to be accurately assessed against the qualifications listed in the posting. To apply, please submit the following application materials to this posting. 1. A current resume/CV. Must include date ranges to include month and year (mm/yyyy). 2. A cover letter that specifically addresses reasons for applying, and particularly how your experience meets the minimum criteria. 3. Research statement 4. Teaching statement 5. A list of at least 3 references. When submitting the materials, check the Job Specific Attachments box next to each document in order for the search committee members to see your materials.

Job Category: Faculty

Primary Location: Colorado Springs Department: C0001 -- Colorado Springs Campus - 40047 - EAS-Mechanical & Aerospace Eng

Schedule: Full-time

Posting Date: Jan 12, 2026

Unposting Date: Ongoing Posting Contact Name: Todd Bredbenner Posting Contact Email: tbredben@uccs.edu Position Number: 00471501

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To apply, please visit: https://cu.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?job=38616&lang=en