Alternative Careers for Scientists

Alternative Science Careers Defined
What is an alternative science career? It is probably a job that an early stage graduate student would never have predicted for his/her future, but yet in some way is related to science and so makes use of the individual's scientific training. This group of careers includes jobs in science industry away from the bench, e.g. in computational biology, regulatory affairs, marketing, sales, technical support and business development. Other examples are technical writer, patent attorney, patent agent, public policy specialist, science journalist, and science textbook editor.

General Information and Links
Career Success for Some Ph.D.'s Comes by Leaving Academe Behind. From The Chronicle of Higher Education's Career Network (Oct 97).

Careers for Ph.D.s in the Non-Profit World. From The Chronicle of Higher Education's Career Network (Sep 00).

Leaving the Lab Bench. Excellent essay detailing one molecular biologist's decision to leave behind the world of research for an opportunity in science communication/education. By Randy Krauss, Ph.D.

Specific Alternative Careers

Law.	Careers in intellectual property law, including patent attorney, patent agent, and patent examiner.	21 Sep 00
Technology Transfer.	Interested in how discoveries travel from the lab to the market? Check out the links and information on our tech transfer page.	1 Nov 97
Public Policy.		20 Sep 00
Writing and Journalism.	Includes science journalism, medical writing, technical writing and editing, and marketing communications.	21 Sep 00 (Writing) 11 Jan 01 (Journ.)
Science Education.		13 Jan 98
Bioinformatics/Biocomputing.		28 May 98

Back to home.

Last updated January 11, 2001.

For information on these pages, or to report broken links or donate suggestions for new links, contact mallison@geocities.com.