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A simple research program guide for early-career academics
How to create a research program that impresses tenure committees, attracts funding, and actually makes sense to you
Do you remember the day you defended your dissertation? That dazzling moment when committee members finally called you Doctor and you thought to yourself, “I’ve actually done it!” Fast forward to your first faculty meeting as an assistant professor, where your new colleagues casually ask about your research program and suddenly your facial expression changes from confident lion out for a delicious gazelle brunch to deer caught in the headlights of a freight train.
Yeah, I’ve been there. Many of us arrive at our first faculty position as accomplished researchers in a narrow field. We’re experts at executing our supervisor’s vision or publishing on whatever caught our interest during grad school. When I started my tenure-track job, I had a folder full of 99 ideas and no clue how they connected.
Like many assistant professors, I came from a PhD program where success meant publishing one good paper at a time. What mattered was getting it done, getting it out, and moving on. But when I hit the tenure track, that wasn’t good enough anymore. Here, I needed a coherent, fundable, multi-year research program that…
