MadSci Network: Genetics |
Hi Erin, First, the word you are looking for is Geneticist. Someone who winds up as head of a biology research lab probably went through the following steps: Got a college degree in biology or perhaps a field within biology (eg genetics, zoology, molecular biology). They may have worked in a lab during college for class credit. Some people work as a lab technician for a year or two before going to graduate school. Otherwise, they would go directly to graduate school to get a PhD (doctoral degree). In biology, people who get a PhD usually do not get a masters degree along the way, they just go straight to a PhD. At this level, the student must devise and complete a project that fits within the research area of the lab they are working in, which is run by a professor. After that, they would probably get a position as a post-doctoral fellow (postdoc) in a university research lab. A postdoc is more independent than a graduate student, and their project may not fit in as closely with the rest of the lab. At this level, they are trying to establish themselves as an independent researcher, and also trying to build the foundations of a long term research project that they can use to establish their own lab. Sometimes a post-doctoral position is in an industrial research lab, that is, in a company that does research. In this case, their project fits within the company’s goal of creating some product or service that can be sold. From there they would either get a job as an assistant professor at a university, or get a job as a researcher/scientist at a company. (Getting a job as an assistant professor directly after working as a postdoc in a company is tricky: the company may be reluctant to let their employee bring your project with you to the university). If the character in your story is really exceptional, they may skip the post-doctoral step, and get a job as assistant professor straight out of graduate school, but this is unusual. If they go the university route, their first promotion would be to the level of associate professor, then to full professor. I am not as familiar with all the levels in a company. A new hire is simply called a Scientist, but big shots who are running labs are sometimes called “group leaders”. Alex Brands Lehigh University
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Genetics.