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Assistant project scientist vs postdoctoral associate

The differences between assistant project scientists and postdoctoral associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an assistant project scientist and a postdoctoral associate. Additionally, an assistant project scientist has an average salary of $67,978, which is higher than the $54,350 average annual salary of a postdoctoral associate.

The top three skills for an assistant project scientist include data analysis, research projects and molecular biology. The most important skills for a postdoctoral associate are patients, TIP, and data analysis.

Assistant project scientist vs postdoctoral associate overview

Assistant Project ScientistPostdoctoral Associate
Yearly salary$67,978$54,350
Hourly rate$32.68$26.13
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs53,86818,093
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 43%Doctoral Degree, 47%
Average age4141
Years of experience44

Assistant project scientist vs postdoctoral associate salary

Assistant project scientists and postdoctoral associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

Assistant Project ScientistPostdoctoral Associate
Average salary$67,978$54,350
Salary rangeBetween $53,000 And $86,000Between $39,000 And $74,000
Highest paying CityRichmond, CABerkeley, CA
Highest paying stateTennesseeMaine
Best paying companySnyder LangstonArgonne National Laboratory
Best paying industryEducationEducation

Differences between assistant project scientist and postdoctoral associate education

There are a few differences between an assistant project scientist and a postdoctoral associate in terms of educational background:

Assistant Project ScientistPostdoctoral Associate
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 43%Doctoral Degree, 47%
Most common majorBiochemistry, Biophysics, Molecular BiologyChemistry
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaDuke University

Assistant project scientist vs postdoctoral associate demographics

Here are the differences between assistant project scientists' and postdoctoral associates' demographics:

Assistant Project ScientistPostdoctoral Associate
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 58.2% Female, 41.8%Male, 63.2% Female, 36.8%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.9% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 36.0% White, 44.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 39.4% White, 42.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between assistant project scientist and postdoctoral associate duties and responsibilities

Assistant project scientist example responsibilities.

  • Develop and manage third party claim investigations and contractor remedial oversight for various insurance companies.
  • Learned to develop and perform ELISA assays.
  • Perform ELISA assay to identify the potential inhibitor from different natural products sources obtain from NCI
  • Participate in laboratory and clinical research design to provide clinically-relevant insights into blood cell formation and function in cancer patients.
  • Discover the contribution of unique immune cell population towards fibrosis and peritonitis.

Postdoctoral associate example responsibilities.

  • Develop and manage third party claim investigations and contractor remedial oversight for various insurance companies.
  • Co-Authore NIH grant proposal on membrane protein folding.
  • Participate in writing research grant applications including NIH and NSF.
  • X-ray protein crystallographic studies on the structures of antibodies and DNA.
  • Purify DNA from subject blood samples and organize the genome screen.
  • Complete mice handling training and currently using CRISPR technology to knockout genes in cell lines.
  • Show more

Assistant project scientist vs postdoctoral associate skills

Common assistant project scientist skills
  • Data Analysis, 15%
  • Research Projects, 10%
  • Molecular Biology, 8%
  • Cell Biology, 7%
  • Scientific Journals, 7%
  • CRISPR, 5%
Common postdoctoral associate skills
  • Patients, 8%
  • TIP, 7%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Biomedical, 5%
  • CRISPR, 5%
  • Python, 4%

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