I'm Hiring: Research Assistantships Available

Update (9/8/2014): I'm Hiring AGAIN: for BigDEAL

Well, this is the first job posting for myself. I recently joined the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) as an Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (SEEM). I'm also an Associate of the Energy Production & Infrastructure Center (EPIC). I am going to conduct teaching, research and consulting services around the applications of analytics in the energy industry. I welcome self-motivated students with similar research interest to join my group and work with me in this emerging and exciting field to enhance the analytics practice of the energy industry.

I'm not looking for an ideal candidate as I described in Three Skills of the Ideal Energy Forecaster, because I enjoy working with students, mentoring them, and shaping them to the ideal candidates for their future jobs. However, there is one minimum requirement - HONESTY. Please read The Most Valuable Advice I Got from Jim Burke before contacting me. In addition, the following are preferred:

• Academic training in forecasting and optimization;
• Field experience in energy industry (oil, gas and utilities);
• College degree in Operations Research, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Economics, Computer Science, or Mathematics.

If you are interested, please send your résumé and a cover letter to tao.hong@uncc.edu. In your cover letter, please let me know 1) who you are and your background; 2) what your research interest is and why; 3) what your plan is after graduation with a PhD; and 4) why you want to join my research group.

About UNC Charlotte

UNC Charlotte is a public university with over 25,000 students in 92 bachelors, 62 masters, and 19 doctoral programs. The campus is located in the suburbs of one of the fastest growing US cities and adjacent to a large research park. UNC Charlotte is among the fastest growing universities in the UNC System.

About EPIC

EPIC is a university-industry partnership that meets the education and research needs for a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy future. EPIC enhances the available technical workforce, advances technology, and facilitates strategic industry-university collaboration for the global energy industry while supporting the Carolinas' economic and energy security development. EPIC is well funded in terms of facilities; faculty; chaired positions; operations; energy focused laboratories; student scholarships; educational and research programs in the order of $100 M. The main sponsors are the North Carolina State Government, Duke Energy, Siemens, AREVA, Westinghouse, URS, and others.

About Tao

If you are wondering if you should start or restart your career with me by pursuing your PhD, please read Advice to Prospective Graduate Students. You can also read the acknowledgment of my PhD dissertation and my past blog posts, and visit my webpage, where you can find my biography.