UNM FIRST FAQs

UNM FIRST Program FAQ's

General 

Could you please provide more details in terms of how are cluster hires divided between departments? e.g. How many positions for which department or shared between department etc. 2 in Chemistry, 2 in Biology, 2 in Psychology, 1 in Math & Stats, 1 in Physics, 1 in Speech & Hearing Sciences

Would a candidate be ¨disqualified¨ if there is someone with similar expertise within the home department? Definitely not!

I noticed that FIRST specifically hires ESI (Early Stage Investigators), just wondering if the faculty need to maintain their ESI status throughout the entire support period or just at the time of hire for this program? You need to have ESI status at the time of hire.

Will each home department select the hires, or will there be a university-level search committee? Home departments will make the hires, but we have a Hiring Committee (with input from all of the departments) that will oversee the process.

Do we need to state what equipment we would need in our application? It is not required, but departments would likely want to have a general idea.

Does the faculty receive a start-up package in addition to the FIRST support? The startup is covered by the FIRST grant. There will be institutional support for shared equipment and also to pay for all your salaries.

Is the hard money funding only while part of the program? Assuming a fellow gets tenured, what would generally happen to the salary? The faculty hired will be on the institutional budget for their 9-month salaries, both before and after tenure.

Will candidates be considered if they are currently employed at UNM or is the search committee primarily looking outside of the institution? Internal folks are welcome, as long as they are not currently tenure track.

For researchers that are quite interdisciplinary, should we apply to all the departments where our work would fit? You will have to state your top two departments when you apply. But we are open to having hires have two home departments, we already have this practice in place.

If your research can fit in multiple departments, do you recommend structuring your application materials for your first preference or “pitch” to multiple fields? Good question. We have you rank your top 2, but if you really think you fit more than those, I'd at least give us an idea as to why.

Research Background

I understand the need of R01 but is it something explicitly needed for getting tenured? No, an R01 is not required for tenure. It is a goal of the NIH FIRST program. We expect assistant professors to apply for other sources of funding as appropriate for their research.

Would a candidate be “disqualified” if we haven’t been a PI or Co-PI on any grant previously? Definitely not! You cannot have been a PI on a R01 for this program. However, you can be a PI on other types of grants. You also do not need direct experience as a lead on a grant. If you have any questions feel free to email us.

Sounds like there is a lot of support for writing NIH grants, which is fantastic to hear! Will there be faculty support resources for writing NSF grants as well? Yes, NSF is the bulk of what we usually support. The Faculty Research Development Office provides terrific support for NSF grants. This includes 3 faculty research support officers in Arts & Sciences.

Pay/Tenure

Postdocs are often hired in universities or research intuitions under grant or fellowship programs. One outcome of this is that while you are hired by the institution, you are not qualified for the regular benefits that regular employees typically received. Moreover, your pay often comes in the form of a fellowship which has its own set of issues for tax purposes. I am curious if this is the case with the FIRST programs or not? Individuals hired through the UNM FIRST program will be placed in regular tenure-track positions.

The flyer says: "the positions have 75% protected research time for the duration of the NIH FIRST award." What's the duration of the award? It is a 5-year award, but the duration of support will depend on when a person is hired. We hope that additional support will be offered by individual departments post-award.

The posting lists 75% dedicated research time. What expected teaching load does this translate to? Depends on what department you are assigned to. Some departments expect one course per year, others expect two. Keep in mind you want to have a solid teaching lineup by the time you apply for tenure.

Preferred qualifications lists experience teaching neuro/data courses (as well as home department courses). Are these courses new? In which department are they run? Again this will depend on the department. Some departments may already have some courses you can piggyback on and teach as they were or you may want to revamp them, depending on what kind of courses you want to offer. Often for upper division classes, folks have a lot of freedom to develop and offer a course that is more aligned with their expertise. Hires may also have to participate in more lower/intro courses in their departments depending on department needs. 

Are all the positions all hard-money position or some portion of the salary should be compensated from grant money (soft-money)? The 9 faculty members’ (9-month) salaries will be funded on ‘hard’ money.

What would be the salary for the summer months? Two months of salary (and fringe) for three years will be provided by the Office of the Vice President for Research.