Some of you may know that I’ve been on the job market. The good news is that I’ve officially accepted a position at Caltech, starting in September. It’s a fantastic research environment, and they are building up in cosmology at the moment. Also I understand the weather is pretty nice, so I’m excited about the move.
The job itself requires a little explication: I’ll be a Senior Research Associate in Physics. According to Caltech’s classification system, this is a faculty job (“Caltech’s equivalent of a research full professor,” as they put it to me) but not actually a “professor” job. Basically I get to concentrate on doing research — no teaching required, although I’m allowed to volunteer — and can apply for grants and hire postdocs (and even serve on committees!) just like any other faculty member. The downside is that there is no tenure, although it’s not a term-limited job; I can in principle stay forever if the money holds out and they don’t want to fire me. In the meantime, I’ll have the freedom to work on some of the more ambitious cosmology ideas that have been percolating in the back of my mind for a while.
I have to express my gratitude to everyone who has been incredibly supportive during the entire process, from my close friends to strangers on the internet to famous scientists around the world to Marc Kamionkowski and the others who did such a good job recruiting me to Caltech. I’m sure I will miss Chicago at times, but the future looks really bright, and I can’t wait to get it started.
Comments
68 responses to “Going to California”
Congratulations Sean. I’m a JPLer (and hence, associated with Caltech), and really love it out here. I recently met Clifford and it’s good to add more CVers out here!
Congrats!!! 🙂
<phantom-planet>
californiaaaaaaaaaa,
californiaaaaaaaaaa,
here we cooooooooooooooooome!
</phantom-planet>
Weather? What weather? As an added bonus, you can see the air you’re breathing.
What great news.
Congratulations and may the wind be at your back.
Cheers.
Thanks, everybody! I am looking forward to sunshine and fabulousness while unlocking the secrets of the universe.
Congrats and wow. Both you and Caltech are blessed by this.
Fired by hell and sent to heaven as punishment. No doubt due to your strong religious beliefs.
Congratulations!
And do teach – they could use some teachers!
Congratualtions, the new position sounds wonderful and I amsure you will find the weather more to your (or any humans)liking.
Apparently they don’t mind your blogging!
Sean! That is fantastic! Congrats! And good luck. It may be diffrent out there, but I definately missed Chicago when I left (but I get to go back every few weeks, so that has helped!).
Welcome to Caltech. We’ll be glad to have you here.
Congrats and welcome to the party!
Congratulations!!!!
We will have to meet up for lunch sometimes. It’s nice to know there’ll be someone I know around.
Many congrats, Sean. Caltech will never be the same… and Chicago (the city, the institution, the department) will be much the worse without you. So glad I won’t be sticking around to see the decline! (to those few fans I have left after months of not blogging who are waiting to hear where I’m going… just a bit longer, and all will be revealed)
Congrats, Sean! As others have said, what is Chicago’s loss is CalTech’s gain (and yours). Jeff & I will have to catch up with you before you leave Chicago.
Watch out, SoCal, Sean’s back!
“May your travels be prosperous”
[…] It is rather too bad that Cosmic Variance will be losing its carefully-planned geographic diversity, and will soon be 80 percent Californian… but then again, Sean and I will both be trading wind and winter for ocean and sunshine, so it’s not really too bad for us. […]
[…] After nearly two and a half years of practically non-stop blogging (with a nap here and there, I admit), it’s time for me to take a short break and leave CV in the capable hands of my co-bloggers for a bit. I need to focus on some other things for the next month or so, like moving to Los Angeles. A scary prospect, to be sure, but don’t worry about me. Despite the impression that the satellite view from Google Maps might give you, the 777 Tower is not about to topple over and collapse onto Figueroa Street, reducing my new neighborhood to rubble. […]