Congratulations to Professors Ernest Fraenkel and Eric Alm for becoming tenured faculty in the department. After a long and gradual process, the two associate professors were offered their new more permanent roles this past spring.  “Honestly, I was very relieved,” shares Professor Fraenkel.  “I’m very happy.”

Becoming tenured can be an agonizing process but here, in BE, it seems to be a supportive and well-measured experience.  “I felt like the whole department was rooting for me,” Professor Fraenkel reflects. “I appreciate the advice and support that I received along the way.” Professor Alm agrees that “[the tenure] experience here has been nurturing; the mentoring has been really fantastic.”

While not much will change now for Professor Fraenkel – other than staying longer at faculty meetings and perhaps taking some greater risks with his research, Professor Alm will immediately go on sabbatical to NYU, where he will be an immunology student in Dan Littman’s and Rich Bonneau’s labs. “I want to take some time off from doing what I’m comfortable with to become a novice and learn the basics of a new field,” say Professor Alm.  “I want to enter as a complete beginner and carry out experiments on my own – even if it means making a lot of novice mistakes – so that later I can work fluently in both microbiology and immunology.”

When asked what advice they would lend to others who are seeking tenure here or elsewhere, Professor Fraenkel notes how important it is to “develop a community of scientists outside of MIT.”  With so much information out there, Professor Fraenkel feels that it is the personal connections and networks that help shape the way that your work is perceived by the world. Professor Alm encourages others who are considering tenure track to “work on a problem that you can uniquely identify as your own.”

After celebrating with their labs and families, life will return to normal for Professor Fraenkel while Professor Alm heads off to the Big Apple for the fall semester. Professor Alm will return to MIT in time to teach his IAP Course this January.