My Experience Applying for an ECE Faculty Position in the 2026–27 Cycle

I was on the academic job market for the 2026–2027 cycle, mainly targeting EE/ECE departments in the United States. For background, I am Zhengqi Gao , a PhD student at MIT EECS, working in design automation for integrated electronics and photonics. This cycle has been brutal due to widespread funding cuts. While the previous cycle (2025–2026) was already difficult — many departments opened…