The Department of Statistics and Data Science at Washington University in St. Louis has multiple openings for tenure-track positions at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor, to begin in 2027, with particular interest in candidates who advance the university's broader +AI initiative. Candidates should apply on Interfolio (Job ID#190458). A Ph.D. in Statistics or a relevant field in data science is required. The department supports foundational research as well as transdisciplinary research. Successful candidates will join a rich intellectual community of AI practitioners and subject matter experts utilizing AI methods to solve society's greatest challenges.

We invite applications from candidates with expertise and interest in statistics and data science, broadly defined. We are especially interested in candidates whose research advances one or more of the four thematic areas of WashU’s +AI initiative:

• AI for Science and Engineering: Modeling the Physical World. Fundamental AI and computational methodology that advances modeling, simulating, and reasoning about physical systems. This includes physical AI coupled with domain knowledge (climate, materials, digital twins) and AI-accelerated scientific discovery (structural biology, astrophysics, quantum systems). We particularly welcome scholars who can leverage AI to bridge information across temporal and spatial scales.

• AI-Driven Imaging Science: Imaging from Molecules to the Universe. Advancement of foundation models, generative modeling, and inverse problem methods across scales from the biomedical to the geophysical, with applications spanning biomedical sensing, biodiversity and environmental monitoring, the built environment, and population health and food security.

• Agentic AI: Governance, Society, and Institutions. Modeling how AI agents behave at scale in complex social and economic systems, including multi-agent dynamics, organizational adaptation to agentic systems, and the reshaping of labor, decision-making, and accountability in complex institutions. We welcome applications that engage high-stakes contexts leveraging existing WashU strengths, such as population health, democracy, or biotechnology.

• Human Values, Creative Practice, and AI. Statistical and computational foundations of generative AI systems, and quantitative approaches to studying human interaction with AI, including questions of authorship, creativity, and the human implications of generative systems.

Candidates selected under the +AI initiative will be invited to participate in a university-wide workshop in one of these four identified areas and to be an active member of the intellectual community forming around that topic.

Duties will include teaching and student mentoring at the undergraduate and the graduate levels, conducting and maintaining a strong research program, and participating in department and university service. Candidates for the rank of Associate or Full Professor should have outstanding teaching, service, and research record commensurate with tenure at that rank.

Application materials should include a CV, list of publications, research statement, teaching statement, and three or four letters of recommendation. Applicants are recommended to include copies of past teaching evaluations along with their teaching statements. Applicants and reference letter writers should submit the required material via Interfolio. The department will review applications regularly from October 15, 2026, but applications completed prior to November 15, 2026 will receive full consideration. Consideration after that date will be at the discretion of the department.

Washington University in St. Louis is committed to the principles and practices of equal employment opportunity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or genetic information.

Cluster hire in AI for Modeling the Physical World and Living Systems

Washington University in St. Louis invites applications for multiple tenure-track faculty positions at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor for a +AI cluster search spanning the departments of Biology, Chemistry, Philosophy, Physics, Psychological & Brain Sciences, and Statistics & Data Science. Faculty recruited through this process will join a vibrant cohort of faculty recruited in an earlier Rules of Life search undertaken to promote transdisciplinary collaboration and dialogue to explore fundamental questions regarding living systems and the physical world. Candidates should apply on Interfolio (Job ID#191452). Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Biology, Chemistry, Data Science, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Statistics, or a closely related field. Candidates for the rank of Associate or Full Professor should have an outstanding academic record of research, publication, teaching, and service commensurate with tenure at this rank. 

Life operates across a diversity of scales, from molecular-scale processes shaping cellular function to the delicate dynamic balance of our biosphere as a whole. System-level properties and processes are affected by interactions operating at all scales and between scales. Understanding these interconnected systems requires an interconnected and multidisciplinary research community. From AI-driven advances in protein structure and dynamics, to advanced imaging methods enabled by quantum sensing, to imaging and modeling the human brain and behavior, to developing entirely new mathematical and computational frameworks to achieve insight from complex data, transformative advances in life sciences will require the integrated efforts of scientists and scholars working across disciplinary boundaries. Moreover, these advances will be accelerated through the combination of artificial intelligence and machine learning with other experimental and computational approaches. Finally, advances in science and technology raise foundational questions about the nature of artificial and natural intelligence, and how they relate to conscious experience and human values.

We anticipate multiple hires to expand upon a successful Rules of Life cluster search and to create a robust hub of science researchers and philosophers using diverse yet interconnected methods to advance life sciences from molecular to ecological scales while also considering the relationship between AI and humanity. Preference will be given to applicants whose research combines AI-driven inquiry with experimental, computational, or data-science methods, and who demonstrate synergy with current areas of strength at Washington University. Joint applications exhibiting a high degree of potential for research collaboration will also be considered.

For more information about this search, specific AI-related themes and contacts for search-related questions, visit https://insideartsci.washu.edu/rules-of-life

Duties will include conducting research, teaching, advising students, and participating in departmental governance and university service. WashU aims to create an environment that encourages and supports wide-ranging exploration at the frontier of discovery by embracing diverse perspectives from individuals of all identities and backgrounds. We promote higher education and rigorous research as a fundamental component of an open, vibrant society. We strive to enhance the lives and livelihoods not only of our students, patients, and employees but also of the people of the greater St. Louis community and beyond. We do so by addressing scientific, social, economic, medical, and other challenges in the local, national, and international realms.