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| Median Wage (USD, 2024) | Projected Job Openings (2023-2033) | Projected Growth (2023-2033) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Statistics | $104,160 | 800 | 8.7% |
| State Statistics | - | - | - |
| City Statistics | - | - | - |
Experience Requirements Overview
- Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
- Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Education, Training and Experience
Required Level of Education: Bachelor's Degree
Related Work Experience: N.A.
On-Site or In-Plant Training: Up to and including 1 month
On-the-Job Training: Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month
Detailed Work Activities
- Develop theories or models of physical phenomena.
- Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
- Monitor operational procedures in technical environments to ensure conformance to standards.
- Write articles, books or other original materials in area of expertise.
- Design research studies to obtain scientific information.
Work Values
Achievement
Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Working Conditions
Recognition
Relationships
Support
Independence
Tasks
- Conduct research on the structures and properties of materials, such as metals, alloys, polymers, and ceramics, to obtain information that could be used to develop new products or enhance existing ones.
- Test metals to determine conformance to specifications of mechanical strength, strength-weight ratio, ductility, magnetic and electrical properties, and resistance to abrasion, corrosion, heat, and cold.
- Test material samples for tolerance under tension, compression, and shear to determine the cause of metal failures.
- Determine ways to strengthen or combine materials or develop new materials with new or specific properties for use in a variety of products and applications.
- Prepare reports, manuscripts, proposals, and technical manuals for use by other scientists and requestors, such as sponsors and customers.
- Plan laboratory experiments to confirm feasibility of processes and techniques used in the production of materials with special characteristics.
- Recommend materials for reliable performance in various environments.
- Supervise and monitor production processes to ensure efficient use of equipment, timely changes to specifications, and project completion within time frame and budget.
- Research methods of processing, forming, and firing materials to develop such products as ceramic dental fillings, unbreakable dinner plates, and telescope lenses.
- Perform experiments and computer modeling to study the nature, structure, and physical and chemical properties of metals and their alloys, and their responses to applied forces.
- Devise testing methods to evaluate the effects of various conditions on particular materials.
- Test individual parts and products to ensure that manufacturer and governmental quality and safety standards are met.
- Confer with customers to determine how to tailor materials to their needs.
- Visit suppliers of materials or users of products to gather specific information.
- Write research papers for publication in scientific journals.
- Teach in colleges and universities.
Work Styles
Achievement/Effort
Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Persistence
Initiative
Leadership
Cooperation
Concern for Others
Social Orientation
Self-Control
Stress Tolerance
Adaptability/Flexibility
Dependability
Attention to Detail
Integrity
Independence
Innovation
Analytical Thinking
Data Source: This page includes information from the O*NET 30.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This page includes Employment Projections program, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.