Like many researchers, Marien Simeni wanted to be a professor. As an associate research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, he had several years of research and leadership experience beyond his Ph.D. But the first time he applied for faculty positions, he was not invited to interview.
There was no recruitment system for faculty jobs, the application requirements were vague, and the competition was fierce. Simeni felt lost.
The following year, he found the Princeton Pathways into the Academy (PPIA) Program offered by Princeton Engineering’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Joining a cohort of early-career researchers and Ph.D. students from Princeton and other schools, Simeni attended monthly sessions on searching for jobs, preparing applications, and setting up a research lab.
Princeton Pathways into the Academy
This Princeton Engineering program offers monthly workshops and faculty-led panels to prepare early-stage researchers for faculty careers in engineering and computer science. This year’s program starts Feb. 20 and continues through December 2025. Participants may join at any time during the year.
The candidates refined their statements describing their approaches to teaching and research. They practiced appearing before faculty interview committees. Most importantly, they worked with new professors who had recently gone through the same process.
“The diversity of the people who come and give advice or share their own experiences is amazing,” said Simeni, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. “It actually gives you the feeling that it’s feasible, it’s something that can be done. Otherwise, it’s kind of a black box. You feel like getting an academic job is just for some kinds of people.”
Last year, Simeni decided to give back to the PPIA program by presenting a workshop on acing the research presentation, or “chalk talk,” portion of the interview.
He advised applicants to “be very open and welcoming — show the committee why they should be interested in your work,” said Simeni. “At the end of the lecture, although they might not understand everything, they should understand enough to be interested in collaborating with you or even doing similar research.”
Julie Yun, the engineering school’s associate dean for diversity and inclusion, started the program to broaden the pool of graduate students and postdocs who are well prepared to land faculty jobs. Yun said that applying for these positions can be an extremely involved process with many critical steps. But, too frequently, it is difficult for candidates to understand the system.
It’s a very competitive process. There will be people who will have the same accolades or have done the same type of work that you’ve done. This program opened my eyes to things that make you stand out from a big crowd of people.
Amal Narayanan, 2023 PPIA participant and assistant professor at the University of Florida
“How do you get the information and the training necessary to apply to be a faculty member?” said Yun, who created the program in 2019. “I wanted to begin with the basic mechanics and create a structured program that broke it down for people in easy-to-understand pieces.”
Other faculty preparation programs tend to use a “boot camp” model where participants gather for just a day or two and are inundated with information and advice. PPIA offers themed workshops that are spaced out over the course of the year, as well as opportunities for more give-and-take between applicants and presenters.
In its first five years, the program supported 51 participants, more than 60% of whom have become faculty members. And in 2024, the program became all online and open access, allowing anyone to register and attend the kickoff sessions and monthly workshops.
At the same time, Yun’s team also expanded the program’s focus on navigating the transition to a faculty role, adding sessions on mentoring and leadership, grant writing and funding, and launching a new research lab. Vishi Singh, diversity and inclusion coordinator for the engineering school’s recruitment and access programs, has led the PPIA program’s expansion.
It’s about creating community and exchanging information that is not written down anywhere. There are a lot of expectations that you might not know about that you need to actively think about to make a good first impression in a job interview, secure a job interview in the first place, prepare your application, and all of that.
Antonia Statt, PPIA presenter and assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
“We really wanted to broaden access to the program,” said Yun. “And the response has been phenomenal.”
Nearly 300 people attended the online sessions in 2024. About a quarter of them were graduate students or postdocs at Princeton, while the rest came from institutions around the United States and a few from other countries.
Yun launched PPIA as part of a multipronged strategy to increase diversity in STEM fields — at the graduate student and faculty levels, at Princeton and more broadly. Her office’s Pathways to Graduate School for Rising College Seniors has also grown into an online program where faculty members and current graduate students share knowledge with prospective applicants.
“It started as a diversity effort to try to broaden participation and to grow the talent pool, but it’s turned into something even beyond that,” said Yun. “I think it’s really a supplemental training program” that augments the research training Ph.D. students and postdocs receive from their advisers. “I feel like we’re doing our bit to support the broader needs of the field,” she said.
I think the whole academic application process is mired in vagueness and sometimes misinformation. Having an opportunity to speak candidly with your own peers and also with people who have just been through the process is super useful.
Edvard Bruun, PPIA presenter and assistant professor at Georgia Tech
As in the Pathways to Graduate School program, Yun and the presenters she enlists aim to dispel myths about who can be a successful applicant for faculty positions.
Simeni said he believes many early-career researchers are in the same position he was in just a few years ago: They are talented scientists but have not been privy to the hidden knowledge that’s required to present themselves effectively. PPIA fills a niche that’s much-needed in order for science and engineering as a whole to reach their full potential, he said.
“We are all diverse in the way we think when we approach problems. Maybe the way your brain is wired is the right wiring to enable solving some of the key issues we face as humans,” said Simeni. “And if you don’t get access to becoming faculty and a chance to fully exploit and test your ideas, we all miss opportunities to solve problems. PPIA is barrier-lifting — it contributes to mitigating this issue.”
Photo of Amal Narayanan by Michel Thomas, CLAS Communication Support, University of Florida; photo of Antonia Statt courtesy of Antonia Statt; photo of Edvard Bruun by Max Kopanygin
The Princeton Pathways into the Academy Program is open to all who are interested in joining the monthly sessions. It runs from February to December 2025, and participants may join at any time during the year. To register, please visit this link. For more information, contact Vishi Singh at vishi.singh@princeton.edu.
