Research Dietitian Overview
Working as a Research Dietitian
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a research dietitian. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.65 an hour? That's $47,102 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 8,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Research Dietitian Do
There are certain skills that many research dietitians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, listening skills and organizational skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a research dietitian, we found that a lot of resumes listed 22.7% of research dietitians included nutrition services, while 17.1% of resumes included data collection, and 14.9% of resumes included study participants. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the research dietitian job title. But what industry to start with? Most research dietitians actually find jobs in the health care and education industries.
How To Become a Research Dietitian
If you're interested in becoming a research dietitian, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 34.1% of research dietitians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 62.4% of research dietitians have master's degrees. Even though most research dietitians have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a research dietitian. When we researched the most common majors for a research dietitian, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on research dietitian resumes include doctoral degree degrees or None degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a research dietitian. In fact, many research dietitian jobs require experience in a role such as clinical dietitian. Meanwhile, many research dietitians also have previous career experience in roles such as dietitian or dietetic internship.
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Research Dietitian Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a research dietitian can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as clinical dietitian, progress to a title such as food service supervisor and then eventually end up with the title nutrition director.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Research Dietitian
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
University of Wisconsin Madison Research Dietitian Research Dietitian | University of Wisconsin Madison University of Wisconsin Madison | 10/10/2020 10/10/2020 | $50,00010/10/2020 $50,000 |
Montana State University Research Dietitian Research Dietitian | Montana State University Montana State University | 07/30/2019 07/30/2019 | $37,58707/30/2019 $37,587 |
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc. Research Dietitian Research Dietitian | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Inc. | 04/18/2016 04/18/2016 | $45,76004/18/2016 $45,760 |
Joslin Diabetes Center Research Dietitian Research Dietitian | Joslin Diabetes Center Joslin Diabetes Center | 02/01/2014 02/01/2014 | $56,36802/01/2014 $56,368 |
Joslin Diabetes Center, Inc. Research Dietitian Research Dietitian | Joslin Diabetes Center, Inc. Joslin Diabetes Center, Inc. | 03/17/2011 03/17/2011 | $48,50603/17/2011 $48,506 |
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Top Colleges for Research Dietitians
1. University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD • Public
2. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
3. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
4. University of Delaware
Newark, DE • Public
5. Ohio State University
Columbus, OH • Public
6. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
7. California State University - Chico
Chico, CA • Public
8. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
9. Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX • Public
10. Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI • Public
Top Skills For a Research Dietitian
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 22.7% of research dietitians listed nutrition services on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and listening skills are important as well.
- Nutrition Services, 22.7%
- Data Collection, 17.1%
- Study Participants, 14.9%
- Study Protocol, 8.9%
- Principal Investigators, 8.3%
- Other Skills, 28.1% See All Research Dietitian Skills