Another job, another country

Moving again. This is something I didn't think I would need to write for at least 2 to 3 years. The magnitude of a single event in a person's life can only be measured against their other events, except things like death, I suppose, that probably has an absolute number. So, to have to move again after almost 5 years in Houston, after many many moves, doesn't seem so bad? But one thing I realize is that the amount of stuff I accumulate grows by the day, and that makes moving harder and harder.

All this is to say, I applied for an academic position at Imperial College in London and this article is the aftermath of that a year and a bit on.

Back in April (2025), I was forwarded a professorship posting (at all ranking) at Imperial College, which had been sent round to a colleague’s research group. I was then connected with a mechanics academic staff (faculty members) at Imperial. This was on April 10th, 2025. I talked to him who was honest about being an academic in London. I had a conversation with the department chair before I formally sent in my application.

I asked three faculty members (one of whom advised me and two are senior colleagues I never worked with) for recommendation letters. Since that time, there was a period of silence until June 19 when I was sent an email saying I have been shortlisted after two rounds of elimination due to an unprecedented number of applications. A couple of days later I was asked, a little frantically, for material for a letter of recommendation, since the deadline was sooner than anyone expected. I also learned that being asked for letters at that stage usually means a committee is close to deciding who to invite.

A couple of days after that on June 26, sure enough, I got an email asking if / and when I would be free for on-site interview. I was given a choice between July 7, 8 or 9. We had already planned a vacation to Toronto, Barcelona, and Zurich (with Kelly and Justin for the latter two) starting on the first of July. So this threw a wrench in the plan, or so we thought, but then we realized that July 8 fits in between Barcelona and Zurich perfectly, like a jigsaw puzzle piece. My optimistic mind thought, great, this is a paid-for vacation that happens to be an interview.

So we flew to London Gatwick, and went to the hotel that they booked (decidedly less posh than the hotel in Barcelona). I spent that afternoon until late night preparing the slides.

The interview schedule was light, at least compared to the US. I was to give a 20 minute talk about my research at 11am, followed by a 10 min Q/A. Then it was a tour of the facilities and meetings with two academics. The technician was very friendly but he was in charge of wind tunnels, so he showed me 6 different wind tunnels. Super cool but diametrically opposite to what I do. I had lunch with Emile at the student canteen, curry chicken rice I think. 1:30pm was the formal interview with the search committee. I gave a 10 minute presentation on my future plans. The five people then asked me questions from a list like a job interview at a company. That took an hour, and that was it. I was out the door at 2:30pm.

July 18, 2025, they sent me an email saying they liked my talk and wanted to offer me a position. This is followed by negotiation and counter offers and finally acceptance.

This is followed by a year of intense and violent change in my personal and professional lives that nearly broke me.

As a footnote, I started the position June of 2026, and by chance, I learned that the recommendation letters did the trick. So, thank you dearly. I also learned that they interviewed 9 candidates over a span of three days and hired 3 of them. That is impressive efficiency.