Research group director vs doctoral fellow

The differences between research group directors and doctoral 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 group director and a doctoral fellow. Additionally, a research group director has an average salary of $97,758, which is higher than the $53,366 average annual salary of a doctoral fellow.

The top three skills for a research group director include research projects, R and market research. The most important skills for a doctoral fellow are patients, cell culture, and data analysis.

Research group director vs doctoral fellow overview

	Research Group Director	Doctoral Fellow
Yearly salary	$97,758	$53,366
Hourly rate	$47.00	$25.66
Growth rate	17%	17%
Number of jobs	60,130	22,661
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Average age	41	41
Years of experience	4	4

Research group director vs doctoral fellow salary

Research group directors and doctoral fellows have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Research Group Director	Doctoral Fellow
Average salary	$97,758	$53,366
Salary range	Between $59,000 And $160,000	Between $39,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	IBM
Best paying industry	-	Pharmaceutical

Differences between research group director and doctoral fellow education

There are a few differences between a research group director and a doctoral fellow in terms of educational background:

	Research Group Director	Doctoral Fellow
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 74%	Doctoral Degree, 46%
Most common major	Chemistry	Chemistry
Most common college	Duke University	Duke University

Research group director vs doctoral fellow demographics

Here are the differences between research group directors' and doctoral fellows' demographics:

	Research Group Director	Doctoral Fellow
Average age	41	41
Gender ratio	Male, 56.5% Female, 43.5%	Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 32.9% White, 47.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between research group director and doctoral fellow duties and responsibilities

Research group director example responsibilities.

Lead social path-to-purchase study, incorporating social media analytics into insight community to identify spectrum of social engagement among customers.
Develop a license plate recognition and tracking algorithm using MATLAB.
Design a moving JPEG hardware accelerator using MATLAB and Simulink.
Develop and modify Linux device drivers for use on main controller platform.
Present results, observations and future plans via PowerPoint to the research class
Research into novel method for production of gold nanoparticles with tailorable size and shape.

Doctoral fellow example responsibilities.

Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
Attend courses in drug discovery, python programming, and next-generation sequencing analyses.
Coordinate the validation of data aquisition algorithms (C++, python) for all real and simulate data.
Conduct custom synthesis of organic molecules, key intermediates and building blocks for medicinal chemistry applications.
Design PCL/PLCL drug delivery system for DC immunotherapy.
Succeed in using CRISPR to genetically correct diseas iPSCs.

Research group director vs doctoral fellow skills

Common research group director skills

Research Projects, 48%
R, 18%
Market Research, 6%
Laboratory Procedures, 6%
Clinical Trials, 5%
MATLAB, 5%

Common doctoral fellow skills

Patients, 8%
Cell Culture, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%
Research Projects, 5%
Cell Biology, 5%
Immunology, 5%

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Research Group Director
Research Group Director vs Doctoral Fellow

Updated January 8, 2025

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