ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STEM AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Major Duties of the Position: The Associate Dean for STEM and Artificial Intelligence provides academic leadership and portfolio administration for the STEM and Artificial Intelligence academic portfolio, establishing priorities, translating senior-leader direction and emerging scientific and technological developments into executable academic objectives, and overseeing academic programs, curriculum, governance, assessment, laboratories and technical-learning environments, faculty utilization, resources, and continuous improvement.

Ensures the portfolio provides coherent, integrated technical general education rather than disconnected introductory specialist courses. Supervises and develops faculty and staff including civilian and military personnel and subordinate leaders as assigned.

Plans and assigns work; establishes performance expectations; evaluates performance; supports recruitment and staffing; identifies training and developmental needs; addresses employee concerns; and promotes organizational effectiveness, accountability, and a professional workplace.

Oversees curriculum integration, academic quality, assessment, and cadet technical development across the STEM and Artificial Intelligence portfolio.

Guides curriculum development, laboratories and hands-on learning, academic standards, assessment, and program improvement, with emphasis on scientific, quantitative, computational, systems, engineering, data, and technical judgment.

Ensures cadets develop the ability to reason from evidence, model and test solutions, evaluate uncertainty and tradeoffs, and address complex technical and national-security problems. Provides leadership for the responsible integration of artificial intelligence as a longitudinal capability within USAFA's technical general-education curriculum.

Ensures AI-enabled tools enhance rather than replace first-principles scientific, mathematical, computational, and engineering reasoning and that cadets develop appropriate understanding of validation, limitations, reliability, bias, human oversight, and responsibility for AI-informed decisions.

Provides strategic integration, faculty development, and institutional engagement by developing faculty and technical-educator capability, encouraging scholarship and educational innovation, advising senior leaders on emerging scientific and technological developments, and representing the portfolio with USAFA, Department of the Air Force, other service academies, universities, laboratories, government organizations, industry, and professional communities.

May teach, mentor, advise, conduct scholarship or research, or engage in engineering or other technical activities when assigned and appropriately qualified; however, these activities support rather than replace the position's primary academic-administrative and supervisory responsibilities.

The Associate Dean for STEM/AI is not expected to be an expert in every discipline or technology represented in the portfolio.

The position instead requires an academic leader capable of working among scientists, engineers, computing and AI specialists, and practitioners; asking good questions; identifying connections; protecting first-principles understanding; accelerating responsible adoption of emerging tools; and turning broad educational goals into a coherent and executable technical general-education program.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Doctoral degree Applicants must be current USAFA faculty members and hold the academic rank of either associate professor (AD-1701-23) or Professor (AD-1701-24). USAFA faculty currently serving in an AD-1720-25 academic administration role with the requisite academic credentials are also eligible to apply.

ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, and related fields.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS: We are particularly interested in senior faculty who bring: a strong record as a USAFA educator; sustained superior performance in teaching, scholarship, and institutional service; experience leading faculty, programs, courses, departments, or significant academic initiatives; a record of teaching, scholarship, or professional activity in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computing, artificial intelligence, or related fields that demonstrates interdisciplinary and/or integrated engagement; and a commitment to building rigorous, formative, integrated technical general education, with experience in hands-on or design-build-test education and demonstrated engagement with contemporary AI-enabled engineering or scientific practice; multidisciplinary professional experience in industry, government, national laboratories, military technical organizations, or comparable settings is highly valued.

This position offers an unusual opportunity to help shape the intellectual architecture, faculty culture, and educational experience of a new School during its formative years. Inquiries about the position should be directed to the Search Committee Chair, Dr. Mark Jensen, email: mark.jensen@afacademy.af.edu.

Please do not email documents or completed applications to this address as they will not be considered.