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Research associate professor vs research fellow

The differences between research associate professors and research fellows can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a research associate professor and a research fellow. Additionally, a research associate professor has an average salary of $94,301, which is higher than the $53,823 average annual salary of a research fellow.

The top three skills for a research associate professor include public health, biomedical and research projects. The most important skills for a research fellow are patients, research projects, and data analysis.

Research associate professor vs research fellow overview

Research Associate ProfessorResearch Fellow
Yearly salary$94,301$53,823
Hourly rate$45.34$25.88
Growth rate12%17%
Number of jobs57,73859,746
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 41%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age4641
Years of experience44

What does a research associate professor do?

The work of a research associate professor is conducting research, publishing papers, and attending conferences. The professor is also tasked with the job of attending academic events and networking with other researchers and field experts, as well as supervising, advising, and mentoring teaching assistants and graduate students.

What does a research fellow do?

A research fellow is an academic researcher who conducts research and analysis of comprehensive literature, data, and results and provides literature reviews. He/She supervises research assistants and recruits study participants to interview them for a particular study. To become a research fellow, a candidate should have a doctorate in a relevant discipline and publish peer-reviewed papers. Also, a research fellow can be an independent investigator or be supervised by a principal investigator.

Research associate professor vs research fellow salary

Research associate professors and research fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

Research Associate ProfessorResearch Fellow
Average salary$94,301$53,823
Salary rangeBetween $58,000 And $151,000Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying CitySalt Lake City, UTSouth San Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateUtahHawaii
Best paying companyUniversity of Massachusetts Medical SchoolMcKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industryHealth CareNon Profits

Differences between research associate professor and research fellow education

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

Research Associate ProfessorResearch Fellow
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 41%Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common majorChemistryChemistry
Most common collegeCornell UniversityDuke University

Research associate professor vs research fellow demographics

Here are the differences between research associate professors' and research fellows' demographics:

Research Associate ProfessorResearch Fellow
Average age4641
Gender ratioMale, 69.6% Female, 30.4%Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 17.6% White, 62.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 27.1% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage16%8%

Differences between research associate professor and research fellow duties and responsibilities

Research associate professor example responsibilities.

  • Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
  • Conduct NIH sponsor studies on HIV/AIDS in African-American and Hispanic populations in Alabama.
  • Train students in electron microscopy, laser safety, vacuum technology, chemistry, instrumentation, and other laboratory procedures.
  • Identify glucose-induced increases in the phosphorylation levels of interest proteins, including metabolic enzymes and transcription factors by analyzing phosphoproteomics data.

Research fellow example responsibilities.

  • Collaborate with software engineers to automate identification of 15N- and 13C- labele LC-MS features.
  • Process and manage GIS databases to contribute towards research in human transportation behavior.
  • Manage investigator initiate and cooperative group correlative studies to identify biomarkers to ascertain tumor burden and clinical outcomes in lymphoma.
  • Analyze quantitative and qualitative data through statistical software SAS and SPSS.
  • Conduct sampling, PCR, data analysis and oral presentations of the work
  • Implement python and C++ codes for numerical computation of transport properties in models and materials.
  • Show more

Research associate professor vs research fellow skills

Common research associate professor skills
  • Public Health, 15%
  • Biomedical, 12%
  • Research Projects, 11%
  • SAS, 6%
  • NIH, 6%
  • Data Collection, 6%
Common research fellow skills
  • Patients, 10%
  • Research Projects, 6%
  • Data Analysis, 5%
  • Cell Culture, 5%
  • Immunology, 4%
  • CRISPR, 4%

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