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The differences between biology research assistants and graduate research assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a biology research assistant has an average salary of $50,800, which is higher than the $34,230 average annual salary of a graduate research assistant.
The top three skills for a biology research assistant include laboratory equipment, laboratory techniques and cell culture. The most important skills for a graduate research assistant are R, technical reports, and research projects.
| Biology Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $50,800 | $34,230 |
| Hourly rate | $24.42 | $16.46 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 50,666 | 52,695 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | - |
A biological research assistant's role is to perform support tasks for biologists and researchers. Their responsibilities typically revolve around organizing samples and research documents, updating databases, reviewing documents, summarizing results into reports and presentations, handling calls and correspondence, coordinating with external parties, and running errands. There are also instances when a biological research assistant prepare laboratories and instruments, cleaning and sanitizing them as needed. Furthermore, one can also perform experiments and analyses under the supervision or directives of a more experienced researcher.
Graduate research assistants are students who work for senior researchers or professors. They help professors in their research. Usually, graduate research assistants are given allowances or stipends in exchange for their help. Graduate research assistants help the researcher in testing research tools, gathering data, and analyzing data. They may also help researchers in creating presentations, interpreting data through graphs, and crafting other collateral that the researcher may need. It is usually required that the graduate research assistant is studying a specific field related to the research topic.
Biology research assistants and graduate research assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Biology Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Average salary | $50,800 | $34,230 |
| Salary range | Between $32,000 And $78,000 | Between $22,000 And $52,000 |
| Highest paying City | New Brunswick, NJ | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Battelle | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Education |
There are a few differences between a biology research assistant and a graduate research assistant in terms of educational background:
| Biology Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Biology | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Georgia Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between biology research assistants' and graduate research assistants' demographics:
| Biology Research Assistant | Graduate Research Assistant | |
| Average age | 38 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 43.1% Female, 56.9% | Male, 54.2% Female, 45.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 16.9% White, 52.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 6% |