Some of you may know that I’ve been on the job market. The good news is that I’ve officially accepted a position at Caltech, starting in September. It’s a fantastic research environment, and they are building up in cosmology at the moment. Also I understand the weather is pretty nice, so I’m excited about the move.
The job itself requires a little explication: I’ll be a Senior Research Associate in Physics. According to Caltech’s classification system, this is a faculty job (”Caltech’s equivalent of a research full professor,” as they put it to me) but not actually a “professor” job. Basically I get to concentrate on doing research — no teaching required, although I’m allowed to volunteer — and can apply for grants and hire postdocs (and even serve on committees!) just like any other faculty member. The downside is that there is no tenure, although it’s not a term-limited job; I can in principle stay forever if the money holds out and they don’t want to fire me. In the meantime, I’ll have the freedom to work on some of the more ambitious cosmology ideas that have been percolating in the back of my mind for a while.
I have to express my gratitude to everyone who has been incredibly supportive during the entire process, from my close friends to strangers on the internet to famous scientists around the world to Marc Kamionkowski and the others who did such a good job recruiting me to Caltech. I’m sure I will miss Chicago at times, but the future looks really bright, and I can’t wait to get it started.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Congratulations! I have had the pleasure of working at JPL in Pasadena for two years, and I’m sure you’ll like it there. (I certainly did; I met my wife there…)
April 6th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Congratulation Sean, and welcome to the better coast.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Excellent! So now you’ve signed on the dotted line I can drop the fascade I’ve been maintaining about life in LA as a means of attracting you here, and go back to blogging about folding bikes, burritos, and misunderstandings of electricity in Australian newspapers.
It’ll be such a relief.
-cvj
April 6th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Oh, and congratulations on making the right choice!
-cvj
April 6th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Congratulations! That’s great to hear, although I was hoping things would work out at Penn since my plan was to finally learn GR.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
Hey Sean — glad to hear that you wound up somewhere you’re excited about! My years at Caltech were great ones, both in terms of science and lifestyle. I’ll envy you when I’m clearing snow out of my driveway here near Boston ….
April 6th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
Congrats! Sounds like a fantastic sort of position.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Almost no need for me to chime in here with congratulations, so instead I will simply say that I am seething with jealousy.
Soon you’ll be awash in sunshine and fabulousness, at least when not unlocking the secrets of the universe…
April 6th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Congratulations, Sean — I wondered which institution would be lucky enough to snag you!
Sounds like a great opportunity and I look forward to having you closer by, and to seeing some of the percolating ideas come to life.
Anthony
April 6th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Congratulations!
I read that Caltech just lost a cannon to MIT, but I guess this should not affect you.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
Congratulations Sean! Go get em! In better weather to boot.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
Hooray!
Though SoCal is not maybe as nice as NorCal, but it’s fun down there too.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
FANTASTIC! It will be just great to have you in LA!
April 6th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Congratulations!!
Excellent choice!
April 6th, 2006 at 7:30 pm
As long as you are simply exiting Chicago, all is fine in the Universe. I wish you all the California happiness in the world.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Warmest, heartiest congratulations, Sean!!! What wonderful news! As a young man it was my dream to attend Caltech, now shall I take vicarious pride in your teaching there. Best wishes from all of us at 3QD…
April 6th, 2006 at 7:33 pm
You will be about as far geographically from Lubos as you can be within the continental US. What could be better?
And the fact that you won’t have tenure means your brain will not rot away for a while.
April 6th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Congratulations Sean!
I hope you won’t give up on teaching. Your lectures were always quite interesting!
April 6th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Ah - it’s a Cosmic (Variance) alignment in California!
Congratulations Sean and welcome to California! I’m glad it’s all settled and you can move on. Now you can shine even brighter and show Chicago what they are missing.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Now, it’s time for Risa and Mark to look for some places in California, making Cosmic Variance a lot less than the current value. Or, Clifford (or JoAnne) may move to the east coast to retain what we have for now. ;-)Congratulations, Sean!!! Hope you flourish there!
April 6th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Good for Caltech! Congratulations! The best, which was yet to come, is now a little closer!
April 6th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Congratulations Sean. Yes, you may miss Chicago at times, but it will miss you far more frequently.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Congratulations! I’m very happy to hear the news. Mark is right, Chicago will be missing you.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
I wonder if you will be working with Kip Thorne? If he was borne 1940 that makes him 66. Do people of science actually retire?
Getting paid to do something you love doing, is this not a reward for the culmination of the time and energy spent?
Well done Sean.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:58 pm
Congrats, Sean! Lucky for Caltech!
I hope for the sake of the Caltech student-body that you don’t leave teaching behind for good. I guess they can always read the blog…
April 6th, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Congratulations! I spent two years at Caltech as an undergraduate (having transferred as a junior after two years at a community college) and it was an amazing place to be. You should be very happy there (and I’m glad they were smart enough to snatch you up).
April 6th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
This is the shiznick, as I didn’t want to apply to Chicago! I have time to take one course at Caltech next semester through Oxy’s exchange program…please consider teaching GR at the level of your book. At the least, I’ll be looking for you so I can have a signed copy. You’re the man!
April 6th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Congratulations!!
I cannot wait to see what is waiting to percolate up…
NM
April 6th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
KICK @SS! i dont know if this is considerd a family blog, and i usualy dont swear, but somethings are just to exciting to use words any less powerful.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:25 pm
Congratulations Sean! Chicago will certainly miss you…
April 6th, 2006 at 9:41 pm
Sean,
Let me add my best wishes to you. You will now be that much closer to the movie capitol of the world
as well as some major league poker rooms.
Sorry to see you leave Chicago however. Are you hanging here for the summer or headed out there soon?
Regards,
Elliot
April 6th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
How exciting… this means more time for blogging… right?
/selfish
April 6th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
That’s great news! Welcome to California where it’s always sunny and…let me stop right there. Chicago really seems to be screwed up.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
Congratulations Sean, that’s a big catch for Caltech and a loss
for us in Chicago. We will miss you.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:44 pm
Congrats, this is wonderful news! A close friend from grad school is also just moving there, I’ll put you two in touch.
April 6th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Congratulations, Sean. Caltech is a wonderful environment and you will love it. I also can’t wait for your new cosmological ideas.
You will be dearly missed in Chicago!
-Sam
April 6th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
My most sincere congratulations, Sean. Caltech is lucky.
April 7th, 2006 at 12:37 am
Congrats and goodluck.
April 7th, 2006 at 1:52 am
Congratulations, Sean! Thanks for sharing this (long-awaited) news with your readers. I wish you all the best.
April 7th, 2006 at 3:22 am
Right on!
Consider joining Hike the Geek — a Sunday morning hiking group chock full of atheists from the LA area. Good people. Good food after the hikes too.
April 7th, 2006 at 8:29 am
Nice! Sorry to see you go.
April 7th, 2006 at 8:44 am
right on dude! you’ll be totally needing this
http://www.surfline.com/surfline/livecams/report.cfm?alias=malibucam
this
http://www.buoyweather.com/wxnav.jsp?region=SD&program=Maps
and this
http://www.wetsand.com/swellwatch/swellwatch.asp?catid=295
No seriously, congratulations, glad things worked out
nick
April 7th, 2006 at 8:55 am
Congratulations for your new position :-)!
April 7th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Congrats
April 7th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Congratulations! Best of luck at my alma mater. Now CV will have the right balance — 60% California bloggers.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:00 am
I’d like to rest my heavy head tonight
on a bed of california stars
April 7th, 2006 at 10:29 am
Congratulations and good luck!
I hope you do continue to teach, at least sometimes, as your class was one of the best-taught of my undergraduate career.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:41 am
Sean, sounds like you have the best of many worlds.
Congratulations and keep us informed of your change of State!!
April 7th, 2006 at 10:59 am
Congrats, Sean! You’ll love Pasadena; they’re lucky to have you!
April 7th, 2006 at 11:14 am
You are mistaken, the weather sucks.
Hot and sunny all the time, except when it is warm and sunny.
It Never Snows!
Otherwise, not a bad place scientifically…
April 7th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
Congratulations Sean. I’m a JPLer (and hence, associated with Caltech), and really love it out here. I recently met Clifford and it’s good to add more CVers out here!
April 7th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Congrats!!!
<phantom-planet>
californiaaaaaaaaaa,
californiaaaaaaaaaa,
here we cooooooooooooooooome!
</phantom-planet>
April 7th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Weather? What weather? As an added bonus, you can see the air you’re breathing.
April 7th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
What great news.
Congratulations and may the wind be at your back.
Cheers.
April 7th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
Thanks, everybody! I am looking forward to sunshine and fabulousness while unlocking the secrets of the universe.
April 7th, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Congrats and wow. Both you and Caltech are blessed by this.
April 7th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Fired by hell and sent to heaven as punishment. No doubt due to your strong religious beliefs.
Congratulations!
And do teach - they could use some teachers!
April 8th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
Congratualtions, the new position sounds wonderful and I amsure you will find the weather more to your (or any humans)liking.
April 8th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Apparently they don’t mind your blogging!
April 9th, 2006 at 4:52 am
Sean! That is fantastic! Congrats! And good luck. It may be diffrent out there, but I definately missed Chicago when I left (but I get to go back every few weeks, so that has helped!).
April 10th, 2006 at 1:55 am
Welcome to Caltech. We’ll be glad to have you here.
April 10th, 2006 at 11:29 am
Congrats and welcome to the party!
April 10th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Congratulations!!!!
We will have to meet up for lunch sometimes. It’s nice to know there’ll be someone I know around.
April 10th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
Many congrats, Sean. Caltech will never be the same… and Chicago (the city, the institution, the department) will be much the worse without you. So glad I won’t be sticking around to see the decline! (to those few fans I have left after months of not blogging who are waiting to hear where I’m going… just a bit longer, and all will be revealed)
April 11th, 2006 at 9:00 am
Congrats, Sean! As others have said, what is Chicago’s loss is CalTech’s gain (and yours). Jeff & I will have to catch up with you before you leave Chicago.
Watch out, SoCal, Sean’s back!
April 13th, 2006 at 10:31 am
“May your travels be prosperous”
June 29th, 2006 at 10:11 am
[…] It is rather too bad that Cosmic Variance will be losing its carefully-planned geographic diversity, and will soon be 80 percent Californian… but then again, Sean and I will both be trading wind and winter for ocean and sunshine, so it’s not really too bad for us. […]
August 9th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
[…] After nearly two and a half years of practically non-stop blogging (with a nap here and there, I admit), it’s time for me to take a short break and leave CV in the capable hands of my co-bloggers for a bit. I need to focus on some other things for the next month or so, like moving to Los Angeles. A scary prospect, to be sure, but don’t worry about me. Despite the impression that the satellite view from Google Maps might give you, the 777 Tower is not about to topple over and collapse onto Figueroa Street, reducing my new neighborhood to rubble. […]