Open Positions

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) seeks to appoint a distinguished scholar and/or practitioner with a deep understanding of housing markets, practice, and policy to serve as the inaugural Nicolas P. and Joan B. Retsinas Director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The successful candidate will also be appointed to an appropriate non-tenured faculty position in the Faculty of Design as Associate Professor in Practice, or as a member of the senior faculty, either as Professor in Practice or Senior Lecturer. They must have a proven track record in fundraising, strategic planning, and organizational leadership. They will be expected to teach and lead housing-related activities at the GSD. Candidates must have a background in urban planning, design, economics, public policy, law, or related fields.

In the role of Director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, the appointee has responsibility for establishing the strategic direction of the Center, expanding the Center’s national impact, securing funding for its operation, and leading a staff of approximately 20 full-time employees working across the domains of research, communications, events, student engagement, finance, and administration. The Director works closely with the Center’s research team to establish and pursue a rigorous annual research agenda, overseeing the thematic direction of four major annual reports, including the highly respected “State of the Nation’s Housing,” as well the production of working papers, academic articles, and other publications.

The Director must be highly visible in the realms of housing policy and industry, serving as the public face for the Center. The Director must have a sophisticated understanding of the current and historical United States housing landscape with the ability to speak expertly on a range of housing-related topics including real estate markets, affordability, housing policy and finance, rental housing and homeownership, housing and urban design, community development, and demographic change. The Director routinely delivers keynote addresses and speaks on panels at national events, is interviewed by national media outlets, and testifies before Senate and House committee hearings about important housing issues.

The Director works closely with the Center’s Policy Advisory Board (PAB), a group of roughly 60 CEOs in the housing industry, to strengthen the policy connections between academia and industry. The PAB provides significant annual funding to the Center, and the Director works with senior staff at the Center and the Chair of the PAB to plan and execute three annual PAB meetings with a two-day agenda of speakers from industry, policy, and academia.

The Director will be a member of the GSD’s Department of Urban Planning and Design and may serve as a member of the senior faculty council. They will be expected to teach one housing-related class each year at the GSD. They also work closely with a Faculty Advisory Committee, comprised of faculty from the GSD and elsewhere across the Harvard campus.

The Director will expand on ways in which the GSD and Center can collaborate, building on the strengths of the GSD’s departments and programs, while also stewarding the Center’s longstanding collaborations with the Harvard Kennedy School. The Director will also make efforts to expand relationships across the university, including with the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Law School, Business School, and Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Additional Information:

This is a full-time position that will combine the directorship and responsibility for managing the Joint Center for Housing Studies with an appropriate part-time faculty appointment.

The faculty search committee will review applications on a rolling basis starting in November 2025. For full consideration, please submit materials by January 9, 2026.

Initial Submission:

Candidates should submit:

• Cover letter
• Curriculum Vitae
• If relevant, selected material from your portfolio, including publications, plans, reports, or design work, depending on experience, up to 15 mb
• Names and contact information for a minimum of three referees. (Candidates will be notified regarding requests for evaluation letters during the subsequent phase of the recruitment process. Please note that your referees may or may not be asked for letters.)

Subsequent Submission:

At a later date, candidates advancing in the selection process will be asked to provide additional material.

Please submit your application via Harvard’s application system.

Harvard University is launching the Sustainable Buildings and Urban Future Cluster —a bold, interdisciplinary research initiative designed to address the climate crisis through transformative innovation in the built environment. This pioneering effort brings together Harvard scholars and practitioners across chemistry, materials science, fluid mechanics, AI, computer science, architecture, and engineering to develop scalable, data-informed solutions in sustainable design, construction, and energy management.

The Cluster aims to modernize—and ultimately revolutionize—energy management by building on and scaling the HouseZero ® concept—Harvard’s prototype for ultra-efficient, naturally ventilated smart buildings—into interconnected communities. This unique initiative integrates three synergistic research thrusts:
1. Advanced thermal storage and sensing materials
2. Intelligent, building-scale integration of sensing and control systems
3. Cooperative, urban-scale energy management

Together, these research directions seek to reimagine how buildings and cities operate—optimizing energy use, enhancing human well-being, and reducing carbon emissions at scale.
We are seeking multiple Postdoctoral Researchers to join this collaborative effort. These three-year positions, starting September 1, 2025, are hosted by the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities and funded by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability. While the project is scheduled to launch in September, hiring may occur earlier, and selected candidates may have the opportunity to begin their appointments ahead of the official start date. Each postdoctoral researcher will work with one or more principal investigators (PIs) aligned with their domain expertise, while contributing to a highly integrated, interdisciplinary research team.

Key research areas include:
– Development of low-carbon materials and tunable thermal energy storage materials integrated with smart sensors and advanced algorithms
– Creation of Digital Twins for energy-efficient building and urban operation
Exploration of novel Human-Building Interaction interfaces
– Design of cooperative energy-sharing systems across multiple buildings
Integration of data-driven and physics-informed learning algorithms for scalable energy management and control
– Engagement with industry stakeholders to guide practical implementation and scale-up strategies

Ideal candidates will have expertise in one or more of the following areas: 
– Sustainable building systems or materials science
– Power system modeling, control systems, or HVAC alternatives
– IoT and sensor networks in the built environment
AI or data-driven modeling and control for building and urban systems
– Human-centered or interaction design for smart systems

Postdoctoral researchers will collaborate closely with faculty from the Graduate School of Design, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, as well as with industry experts. This is a rare opportunity to contribute to a high-impact, interdisciplinary initiative at the forefront of climate innovation.

Leading faculty:
Joanna Aizenberg, Amy Smith Berylson Professor of Materials Science
Petros Koumoutsakos, Herbert S. Winokur Jr. Professor of Computing in Science and Engineering
Na Li, Winokur Family Professor in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics
Le Xie, Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering
Ali Malkawi, Professor of Architectural Technology
Jarad Mason, Associate Professor of Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Vijay Janapa Reddi, John L. Loeb Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering

Please submit a CV, a cover letter, a research statement, two example research papers, and the names of three references. In the cover letter, please list at least two co-PIs from the above list you would like to work with. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The positions are intended for individuals who hold a Ph.D. or Doctorate Degree in a related area.
Final hiring decisions will be contingent on availability of funding. Join us in redefining how we live, build, and share energy in a changing world.

Please submit your application via Harvard’s application system.

Established in 2002 through the generous gift of Harold A. Pollman, the Pollman Fellowship in Real Estate and Urban Development is awarded to outstanding postdoctoral graduates in real estate, urban planning, and development to spend one year as a visiting scholar at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Applicants in the fields of economic development, political economy, urban economics, and other areas in urban planning related to real estate and urban development are also encouraged to apply.

Eligible postdoctoral candidates for the Pollman Fellowship must have either received their doctorate or submitted their dissertation for final degree awarding. The fellowship provides a $30,000 award, plus medical benefits, to cover living and research expenses. While at Harvard, the fellow may audit courses and seek to supplement the fellowship with teaching and research assignments. The fellow is expected to produce at least one publishable paper in a refereed journal, participate in research workshops, deliver a presentation to the GSD community, and contribute to the life of the school.

Application Deadline: Thursday, February 5, 2026, at 12:00 pm EST.

To apply to the Pollman Fellowship, submit a PDF with the following:

• Short statement of current and proposed research, from which applicants will be assessed on:
  • The relevance, feasibility, innovation, and potential impact of current and proposed research, and
  • how the fellowship would affect their academic and professional growth
• Resume detailing work and/or educational experience in the fields of economic development, political economy, urban economics, and/or other areas in urban planning related to real estate and urban development.

Applications must be submitted electronically by the deadline to the Department of Urban Planning and Design at [email protected].