FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Types of Positions

HHMI employs two types of resident investigators at Janelia Farm—group leaders and fellows. With their research groups, they will number about 250 when fully staffed. All lab heads are engaged in “hands-on” research. Relative freedom from other responsibilities allows these scientists to participate in structured and unstructured collegial interchange at a much higher level than is typical in academic environments, perhaps devoting as much as 20 percent of their time to such activities.

About half of our lab heads have advanced degrees in biological disciplines, with the remaining having been trained as physicists, computer scientists, engineers, and chemists. One of the key strengths of Janelia Farm is that our scientists and their laboratories work together without departmental walls to create and employ innovative tools—biological, computational, optical, engineering-based—to improve the imaging of biological samples and to understand the structure and function of neuronal circuits.

An additional 120 people provide scientific and engineering support as well as opportunities to collaborate in areas such as applied physics, instrument design and fabrication, software development, and production of transgenic animals for all resident and visiting researchers.

DIRECTOR
The Director of Janelia Farm, in addition to administrative and institutional leadership responsibilities, serves as the leader of a research group and participates actively in the scientific life of the campus. The director is assisted by a chief operating officer and an associate director for science and training.

GROUP LEADERS
Group leaders each have up to six lab members. This small lab size allows group leaders to continue to do their own experimental work and encourages collaboration between groups. The extensive shared support provided at Janelia Farm allows such small groups to function effectively and greatly extends their technical capabilities. Our goal is a steady-state population of 25 group leaders after Janelia Farm has been operational for five years. Thus, group leaders and their groups will total about 175 scientists.

Although individual group leaders range in career stage from those who have just finished their postdoctoral training to those who have served very senior roles at universities and companies, they are not distinguished by rank. Likewise, they all receive resources to support their research based on scientific need rather than career stage. Group leaders can host visitors and organize scientific conferences.

APPOINTMENT AND REVIEW

The initial group leader appointment is six years. Annual performance reviews are carried out by Janelia Farm management, focusing on a group leader's ability to function effectively in the Janelia environment. A comprehensive review of scientific accomplishments and other contributions to the Janelia Farm research enterprise is carried out before the end of this initial six-year period. There are three potential outcomes from this review:

• A five-year reappointment with an invitation to remain at Janelia Farm, but with the option to transfer to an acceptable HHMI host institution and enter the host-institution-based investigator population.
• A five-year appointment with a requirement to transfer within two years to an acceptable host institution and enter the HHMI host-institution-based investigator population.
• A two-year transitional appointment. Unlike HHMI investigators currently at host institutions, Janelia Farm departing group leaders may transfer their appointments during this transitional period if they accept a position at an acceptable academic research institution. Since the new institution may not be one of HHMI's current host institutions, HHMI will provide support for the group leader and staff during this phase-out period through a grant or restricted gift to the new institution.

Scientific reviews are carried out by a panel composed of senior scientists, such as members of HHMI's advisory boards, with the final renewal decision resting with the president of HHMI, as is the case for HHMI investigators. Likewise, the format of the review is similar to that used for HHMI investigators based at host institutions. However, the review criteria will reflect the different expectations held for Janelia Farm scientists. Indeed, a significant factor in the decision to renew the appointments of individuals at this level will be their contributions to the collegial and scientific environment at Janelia Farm.

FELLOWS
When Janelia Farm is fully staffed, there will be approximately 20 Janelia Farm fellows. The fellow is a fully independent laboratory head who defines his or her research objectives and recruits and supervises up to two other individuals as part of the research team. Fellows have access to all the shared research facilities at Janelia and can host visitors and organize scientific conferences. They have five-year appointments, which are generally nonrenewable. Fellows can apply for group leader positions at any time; however, we anticipate that the majority of fellows will move to other institutions at the end of their appointment period. Janelia provides an unusually supportive environment for collaboration and technical innovation, as well as access to a wide range of expertise.

The fellow position is designed to accommodate individuals at all career stages who have followed a wide variety of career paths. We welcome applications from junior to more experienced researchers. To illustrate this, here are four examples:

The Janelia fellow position may be

1. an alternative to a conventional, mentored postdoctoral fellowship. Most people join an established lab after finishing their Ph.D. We seek those extraordinarily talented and self-confident individuals who have already developed their own scientific vision and are intellectually mature enough to run their own labs at this early stage.
2. an alternative to an academic assistant professorship for people who want to remain maximally “hands on.” The fellow position is excellent for those who want to focus their efforts directly on research without the obligation to teach, obtain grant funding, or do committee service.
3. an alternative to an academic assistant professorship for people who want to change their research direction. Most people find that success in obtaining their first grant requires preliminary data developed during their postdoctoral years, and this prevents most new investigators from undertaking novel research directions. Thus, the Janelia Farm fellow position is an alternative that can offer greater intellectual freedom.
4. a way to transition from another field or career path. The fellow position provides a bridge for scientists in disciplines such as statistics, computer science, and optical physics who would like to apply their expertise to problems in research fields active at Janelia. It can be very difficult for such people, especially those currently in companies, to make such an acute change in their career path. We recognize the importance of the insights, methods, and tools that these individuals can provide.

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