Assistant Physics Professor Cover Letter
The writer wanted to place the applicant's impressive achievements front and center "while still maintaining an understated feel for the academic world." Note the boldfacing of impressive info.
Sample Assistant Physics Professor Cover Letter
January 4, 2010
Professor Christopher Miller
Director, Laboratory of Solid State Physics
New Road, Mexico
Attention: Experimental Physics Search
Dear Professor Miller:
I am responding to your advertisement for an assistant professor in experimental condensed matter physics and have enclosed my CV, publication list, and a statement of research interests for your review.
Some highlights of my research achievements include the following:
- Resolved a long-standing controversy about the nature of wide bands in rare earth-based, inter-metallic
compounds by incorporating high-resolution photoemission, which was cited in multiple papers in
professional journals, including Nature and Science.
- Mapped electronic and magnetic nature in Fe/Cr nanowedges by conducting depth-resolved hard X-ray standing
wave spectroscopy with bright elliptically polarized light. This work decorated the front page of Science as
the work of the year for 2003.
- Obtained the world record tunneling magnetoresistance and excellent thermal stabilities in metallic tunnel
junctions by introducing a new type of deposition process and materials. This work is patented and appeared
in Science and Physics magazines.
In my present position as a research associate professor at Cornell University, I have made several scientific and technological breakthroughs in the development of magnetic random-access memory devices. My work has not only made substantial contributions to the development of high-speed, high-density, low-power, and non-volatile magnetic devices, but also provided a fundamental understanding of the microscopic underlying mechanisms in the transport properties and the electronic structure of state-of-the-art magnetic nanostructures.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration. I look forward to discussing how my experience, credentials, and achievements meet your departmental needs.
Sincerely,
David Harris
Enclosures