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Fellow vs research scientist

The differences between fellows and research scientists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a fellow and a research scientist. Additionally, a research scientist has an average salary of $89,998, which is higher than the $66,364 average annual salary of a fellow.

The top three skills for a fellow include patients, professional development and veterans. The most important skills for a research scientist are python, data analysis, and patients.

Fellow vs research scientist overview

FellowResearch Scientist
Yearly salary$66,364$89,998
Hourly rate$31.91$43.27
Growth rate17%17%
Number of jobs7,45993,013
Job satisfaction-3
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age4141
Years of experience44

What does a fellow do?

A fellow's responsibility will depend on the organization or industry where one belongs. However, most of the time, a fellow's duty will revolve around conducting research and analysis, presiding discussions and attending dialogues, handle lectures while complying with the guidelines or tasks set by supervisors, and assist in various projects and activities. Furthermore, a fellow must adhere to the institution or organization's policies and regulations at all times, meet all the requirements and outputs involved, and coordinate with every person in the workforce.

What does a research scientist do?

The job of research scientists is to design, undertake, and analyze information from experiments, trials, and laboratory-based investigations. They usually perform experiments in different areas, including medical research, pharmacology, and geoscience. They have varied duties and responsibilities that include planning and carrying out experiments, conducting fieldwork, and overseeing junior staff members like the technicians. They are typically working for a government laboratory, an environmental agency, and other organizations. Many of these scientists also work in teams and support staff.

Fellow vs research scientist salary

Fellows and research scientists have different pay scales, as shown below.

FellowResearch Scientist
Average salary$66,364$89,998
Salary rangeBetween $46,000 And $93,000Between $58,000 And $137,000
Highest paying CityOak Ridge, TNMenlo Park, CA
Highest paying stateTennesseeCalifornia
Best paying companyPeterson Institute for International EconomicsLyft
Best paying industryProfessional-

Differences between fellow and research scientist education

There are a few differences between a fellow and a research scientist in terms of educational background:

FellowResearch Scientist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorPolitical ScienceChemistry
Most common collegeDuke UniversityDuke University

Fellow vs research scientist demographics

Here are the differences between fellows' and research scientists' demographics:

FellowResearch Scientist
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 46.2% Female, 53.8%Male, 62.5% Female, 37.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 26.4% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 29.6% White, 50.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between fellow and research scientist duties and responsibilities

Fellow example responsibilities.

  • Design and lead labs align with the NYC curriculum, on topics including moon phases and dichotomous keys.
  • Maintain company website, as well as wrote, manage, and edit content on the SharePoint portal.
  • Manage live streaming for NARAL Facebook during NARAL's lobby day, as well as assisting in attendee organization.
  • Work through several medical software databases to generate SQL to pass on to Java developers for their programs.
  • Develop computer program to visualize EOS data in Java.
  • Include writing python scripts to parse poorly structure text into tabular data.
  • Show more

Research scientist example responsibilities.

  • Manage the development of innovative visualization and concept mapping of contest environment analysis challenges and analyst skill sets.
  • Manage sample inventory via in-house laboratory information management system (LIMS) and implement additional systems for sample and chemical organization.
  • Used real-time PCR and DNA sequencing to troubleshoot and validate SNP base and gene expression assays.
  • Prepare clear technical presentations to NIH department heads in annual seminars.
  • Analyze chromatin dynamics during primordial germ cell specification with a CRISPR mouse model.
  • Identify impurities in final drug by LCMS and reject impurities with ethanol/water swish.
  • Show more

Fellow vs research scientist skills

Common fellow skills
  • Patients, 11%
  • Professional Development, 7%
  • Veterans, 7%
  • Mathematics, 5%
  • Math, 5%
  • Public Health, 4%
Common research scientist skills
  • Python, 11%
  • Data Analysis, 6%
  • Patients, 6%
  • C++, 6%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • Chemistry, 5%

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