Visiting Faculty

University faculty members are invited to spend part or all of their sabbaticals at MERL.

  • Apply for a Visiting Faculty Position at MERL

    University faculty members are invited to spend part or all of their sabbaticals at MERL, pursuing projects of their own choosing in collaboration with MERL researchers. MERL will provide an office, access to compute facilities, travel support and compensation when the compensation provided by the home university is not sufficient. Special resources for projects can be arranged if proposed in advance.

    In addition to participating in the life of the lab, Visiting Faculty are expected to bookend their time at MERL with two talks: one introducing their work or a problem of interest to the MERL community, and one summarizing their work while at MERL.

    To apply, a candidate should identify and contact one or more MERL researchers with whom they would like to collaborate. The applicant and a MERL researcher will jointly prepare a proposal that the researcher will champion internally.

    Applications are considered up to two years in the future and must include the following materials:

    • One page Cover letter indicating (a) target dates and duration of visit, (b) whether the leave from the university is still pending approval and if so, the time frame for a decision, (c) the level of financial support from the university, and (d) expectations for the visit;
    • Proposed research plan with indication of MERL collaborators (two pages or less); and
    • Curriculum Vitae outlining work experience, publication record and primary research achievements.

    Applications will be considered on a rolling basis with acceptance decisions made throughout the year.

    Applications should be sent as a single PDF file to visiting-faculty-application[at]merl[dot]com. Questions and inquires can also be sent to this address.

    About MERL: Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs is an industrial research lab that does a mix of basic and applied research, operating much like an academic research institute, with most results published in selective peer-reviewed journals and proceedings. Faculty of computer science, electrical engineering, operations research, applied math, and applied physics departments are likely to find many projects of interest ongoing at MERL, and an environment highly congenial to new research directions. MERL is located in east Cambridge, within walking distance to MIT and Harvard, where we have several collaborators and alumni on the faculty.

  • Current and Past Visiting Faculty