"Very," says Associate Professor Christophe Pierre, whose committee recruited 12 new faculty members. "MEAM tends to be a self-limiting department in that we set our selection criteria so high."

"We are constantly on the lookout for people who can bring something new to the Department; people with cross-disciplinary skills who can be both stars in the laboratory and in the classroom, especially in areas like design where interactive teaching is very important. We want people whose intellectual breadth will enable them to branch into other fields as the need or opportunity arises. Finally, we want people who will be good citizens of the Department: who will serve on committees, take on outside projects, and generally do the various administrative tasks required in a large and dynamic department such as ours."

Finding such individuals is equal part science and art, Pierre says. By way of illustration, he notes that during his chairmanship of the search committee, the department ran a "positions available" advertisement in a prominent national trade journal. About 1,900 applications poured in. Of those, less than 20 percent made the first cut; and of that number the Department eventually hired just five. The remaining faculty were found by making personal inquiries among respected colleagues at corporations and other top engineering schools, and by pursuing specific individuals who fit the department's strategic needs. To give itself even more of an edge in the competition for the best talent, the Department extended its efforts beyond the traditional January to May faculty recruiting cycle.

"We started our recruiting in August, and that gave us a tremendous advantage-at least the first year," Pierre says. "By the time our competitors were just beginning to get their acts together, we had already hired five people. In the recruiting arena, a college or a department's reputation is everything," Pierre says.

"The U-M College of Engineering and MEAM are always ranked among the best in North America. That helps a lot," he observes. "So does the level of our research funding. All the other indicators of quality are here as well: top faculty, top students, quality publications, leading-edge research. People know about us; that we're strong and getting stronger. That makes this a very attractive place for energetic, highly-motivated people who want to do big things, important things."