Biological Scientist

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Biological Scientist
Agricultural Careers
By Dr. Frank Flanders and Asha Wise Georgia
Agricultural Education Curriculum Office Georgia
Department of Education May 2006
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Job Duties Responsibilities

• Field work collecting data on research projects
• Laboratory management
• Write and apply for grants
• Research product development
• Travel to research sites, conferences and
  workshops
• Develop new product technologies for biological
  use
• In industry, biological scientist may oversee
  production of a biological product such as animal
  medicines
• Must follow strict safety procedures

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Qualities and Skills

• A biological scientist must be intelligent, a
  self-starter, inquisitive and a good problem
  solver
• Typically, most of their time is spent conducting
  tests, running experiments, recording results and
  compiling data
• Biological scientists need to be able to perform
  under occasional pressure to meet deadlines and
  conform to grant specifications
• Those with teaching duties must be able to
  organize for classes and speak well

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Salary

• The median annual income was 60,390 in 2002
• The middle 50 earned between 43,110 and 82,080
• The lowest 10 earned less than 33,930
• The highest 10 earned more than 102,930

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Work Environment

• Work as part of research or production teams
• Work in laboratories and out-of-doors
• Use electron microscopes, computers, thermal
  cycles, or a wide variety of other equipment
• Conduct experiments using laboratory animals or
  greenhouse plants
• Manage animal facilities or greenhouses

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Education

• A Ph.D. degree usually is required for
  independent research
• A Masters degree is sufficient for some jobs in
  applied research or product development
• A Bachelors degree is adequate for some
  non-research jobs.

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Career Resources
American Institute of Biological Sciences Suite
200, 1444 I St. NW. Washington, DC
20005 http//www.aibs.org Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology 9650 Rockville
Pike Bethesda, MD 20814 http//www.faseb.org Biol
ogy Online http//www.biology-online.org/