Page 17 - Biotech Career Guide

BIOTECHNOLOGY CAREER GUIDE 17
Advanced technical education can
lead to positions as scientists or
engineers, conducting research,
designing and developing projects,
or heading up teams. Alternatively,
these professionals can move into
senior leadership or management
roles, guiding organizations towards
longer-term goals.
The industry also needs econo-
mists and businesspeople to man-
age finances, marketers and commu-
nicators to help us understand how
to make the best use of products
and services, legal and government
experts to make sure rules and regu-
lations are safe, logical, and equita-
ble, and educators and researchers
to excite and inform the next genera-
tion of biotechnology professionals.
In the military, expertise in the field
helps professionals integrate knowl-
edge and tools from biotechnology
advances into security strategies
and systems to keep us all safer.
A RANGE OF WORKPLACES
These many different roles can take
biotechnology professionals into
many kinds of workplaces. They
work in the field, often traveling to
gather and study samples of biologi-
cal organisms. In a lab or workshop,
they conduct experiments, run tests,
or manage instruments, engaged
in the important work of translating
basic knowledge into practical
applications. In offices, classrooms,
government organizations, media
settings, and more, they draw on
knowledge of the field in combina-
tion with other professional skills to
advance and support biotechnol-
ogy-related projects and products.
The Department of Defense puts
people to work in nearly all these
roles. Biotechnology specialists do
everything from cutting-edge sci-
ence done in military labs to deploy-
ment of new technologies in the field
to collaborations with industry and
the public sector to promote under-
standing and adoption of biotechnol-
ogy for national security purposes.
A BETTER, SAFER WORLD
In both civilian and military realms,
biotechnology serves vital national
needs. It will keep the United States
safer in an uncertain world, fortify
our position in the global economy,
and enable wider distribution of
material benefits and opportunities
among our fellow citizens. For the
world, biotechnology will yield
advances to help repair the environ-
ment, feed the hungry, heal the sick,
and fuel engines of progress that
can bring opportunity and comfort
to more people than ever before.
Next, you will read about various
educational pathways into biotech-
nology, how to start preparing your-
self for work in the field, and what
kinds of careers might await you.