About RISE-AI
The Wisconsin Research, Innovation and Scholarly Excellence (RISE) Initiative is designed to help address significant, complex challenges of particular importance to Wisconsin and the world, through accelerated and strategic faculty hiring, research infrastructure enhancement, interdisciplinary collaboration and increased student and educational opportunities.
Wisconsin RISE-AI will propel the university to a new level of capacity, with a focus on both the core technical dimensions and the human-centered implications of AI. On core technical dimensions, RISE-AI will advance deep learning and foundation models, natural language processing, signal processing, learning theory, optimization, and related areas. On human-centered implications, RISE-AI will ensure AI trustworthiness, mitigate biases, preserve privacy, enhance fairness, and help establish AI policy and legal frameworks. RISE-AI will facilitate AI applications to multiple traditional disciplines and promote multidisciplinary collaborations.
About the position
The RISE-AI scholarly collaboration lead will join the RISE Core team (led by the senior vice provost for academic affairs) and will work with colleagues across campus to advance the goals of RISE-AI by promoting, coordinating and supporting collaboration in research, education and outreach.
The RISE-AI scholarly collaboration lead is a compensated campus service role, open to tenured or tenure-track faculty. Compensation will include a 10% temporary base adjustment for 12-month basis faculty or 1 month of summer salary for 9-month basis faculty. A teaching reduction will also be considered. Onboarding will begin during the summer 2025 term, with a start date in early June. This is a two-year appointment, ending at the conclusion of the 2026-2027 academic year, with the potential for renewal.
This position will have an annual budget to support programming and seed grants, and basic staff support.
General responsibilities
- Work with the vice chancellor for research, provost, and RISE Core Team (led by the senior vice provost for academic affairs) to shape and implement strategies for enhancing scholarly collaboration in research, graduate and undergraduate education, and outreach related to RISE-AI.
- Convene and lead the RISE-AI Thought Leaders group, which includes designees from deans and from the vice chancellor for research.
- Work with colleagues across campus to build connections among the RISE-AI community, which includes both new RISE-AI hires and current faculty and staff colleagues.
- Identify opportunities for collaboration among campus and community partners, including but not limited to those likely to attract significant external funding. Work with cross-disciplinary colleagues to facilitate the formation of collaborative teams to take advantage of these opportunities.
- Work with the RISE Joint Operations Team to facilitate the sharing of information about school/college hiring plans and progress and facilitate collaborative hiring should opportunities emerge.
- Participate in review processes for RISE-AI collaboration seed grants and other RISE-related funding initiatives from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
Specific tasks
- Meet weekly with the RISE Core Team
- Meet monthly with the RISE-AI Thought Leaders group.
- Meet with all new RISE faculty hires to support their onboarding and entry into the RISE community
- Each semester, organize and facilitate at least one campuswide convening focused on creating connections among their RISE scholarly community (four over two years)
- Each year, organize and facilitate at least one convening focused on creating connections with external partners, such as industry and community organizations
- Support 5 cross-campus research teams with seed grants to facilitate academic publications and/or external grant applications
- Produce an annual report on RISE AI-related activities (hiring, programs, publications, curricular changes, etc.)
Desired qualifications
- Tenured UW–Madison faculty member
- Established scholarly expertise and record in areas related to RISE-AI
- Record of collaboration in research, teaching, and/or outreach
- Demonstrated ability to lead and facilitate group discussion and drive collaboration across disciplines
How to apply
Please send an email by May 9, 2025 to rise@provost.wisc.edu with subject line “RISE-AI Scholarly Collaboration Lead” and the following materials:
- Letter of Interest
- Shortened CV and/or biosketch
- Names of three on-campus references
For more information, email rise@provost.wisc.edu.