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2008 HHMI Investigator Competition
Howard Hughes Medical Institute is pleased to announce a national competition for the appointment of outstanding scientists as HHMI investigators. This competition will enable HHMI to strengthen its community of researchers and bring innovative approaches to the study of biological problems not only in the biomedical disciplines but also in adjacent fields, including but not limited to chemistry, physics and biophysics, biomedical engineering, and computational biology.
From this competition, HHMI expects to appoint approximately 50 new investigators who will be among the most creative and promising in the nation. We also expect them to demonstrate some combination of other attributes that distinguish them from other, highly competent scientists in their field.
- They identify and pursue significant biological questions in a rigorous and deep manner.
- They push their chosen research field into new areas of inquiry, being consistently at its forefront.
- They forge links between basic biology and medicine.
- They demonstrate great promise of future original and innovative contributions.
This investigator competition differs from previous competitions in several crucial ways. HHMI will place no restrictions on the number of applications from any eligible institution. Second, researchers with faculty appointments will apply directly; prior institutional endorsement will not be part of the application process.
We anticipate the competition for these appointments will be extremely keen. Those candidates with outstanding records who have shown evidence of significant originality and productivity are encouraged to apply. HHMI welcomes applications from outstanding women and minorities underrepresented in the sciences.
Who Should Apply?
Applicants must:
- Have a doctoral degree.
- Hold a tenured or tenure-track position as assistant professor or higher academic rank at one of the eligible institutions, or, if at an eligible institution that has no tenure track, hold an appointment that reflects a significant institutional commitment. Federal government employees are not eligible.
- Have between four and ten years of experience since first appointed as an assistant professor or equivalent position; to meet this requirement the applicant's first faculty position as assistant professor must have begun no earlier than April 12, 1997, and no later than June 13, 2003. Circumstances such as those that qualify for tenure clock extensions at academic institutions may justify an extension of the April 12, 1997, limit; applicants who wish to request an extension should provide information in an e-mail to comp2008@hhmi.org.
- Be the principal investigator on one or more active, national, peer-reviewed research grants that provide at least three years of support, such as an NIH R01 award. Mentored awards or training grants do not
qualify.
Important Conditions:
- Appointees become full-time employees of HHMI and are appointed for a five-year, renewable period. Full-time federal employees are not eligible.
- HHMI investigators are required to devote at least 75% of their total effort to the direct conduct of biomedical research. Applicants with administrative responsibilities or other duties inconsistent with this time commitment must reduce those other commitments in order to be appointed.
- Appointees cannot retain research support from for-profit entities.
- At the time a candidate submits an application, he or she must hold a position at the institution where his or her appointment would be made. In addition, an investigator may not transfer to another institution during the first appointment term and retain his or her HHMI appointment.
The Application Process
This competition is now closed.
All applications must be submitted electronically. See additional guidelines below for document format and file types.
The application must contain the following documents:
- A curriculum vitae, a complete bibliography, and a list of current research support, using the NIH PHS 398 biographical sketch format. The NIH three-page limit does not apply.
- A summary of the applicant's major achievements since becoming a faculty member (not more than 250 words).
- A summary of the applicant's ongoing and planned research program (not more than 3,000 words; references and up to one page of figures are not counted toward the 3,000-word limit).
- PDF files of five selected publications that document the applicant's most important scientific contributions and a paragraph summarizing the importance of each publication.
- No reference letters are to be supplied with the initial application. Three references will be required from semifinalists.
Selection of Investigators
HHMI will employ a review process that utilizes a panel of distinguished scientists to evaluate applications, leading to the selection of semifinalists by early 2008. Following a further review, finalists will be announced by the spring of 2008.
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