Here are the results of the survey I conducted to help you (and us) understand who the faculty candidates are:
Looks like most don't go more than 2-3 times (either you get jobs or give up...). I started going when I was a graduate student (just for experience), so I've probably been 3-4 times myself.
Thanks for the support of my idea... I think its a good idea too, but hard to implement :/ Not giving up though!
Bioengineering and Energy are the most popular (no surprise there). Should we rename ourselves to American Institute of Bio Engineers? lol
I guess Materials stands out as the secondary theme
Let's quickly compare this to what the universities are looking for. The graph below is based on what I see on http://rheneas.eng.buffalo.edu/cache/ads.php I am plotting here the % of that ads that express interest in a particular field (since each ad accepts more than one field, these don't add up to 100)
Looks like the story is basically the same: Bioengineering and Energy are at the top (though I expect that with the falling oil prices, the enthusiasm about Energy will decline next year, lol).
2/3 are postdocs, that is also kind of expected. ps: see my other post about postdoc desirability: http://facultycandidate.blogspot.com/2014/10/should-i-postdoc-again.html
I am surprised to see that there are 6-7% of you who are looking for better offers, I guess?
