Materials Scientists
SOC: 19-2032.00

Description:

Research and study the structures and chemical properties of various natural and synthetic or composite materials, including metals, alloys, rubber, ceramics, semiconductors, polymers, and glass. Determine ways to strengthen or combine materials or develop new materials with new or specific properties for use in a variety of products and applications. Includes glass scientists, ceramic scientists, metallurgical scientists, and polymer scientists.

National Salary Information:

Hourly Statistics:

Annual Statistics:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015 wage data.

Employment Projections:

Employment (2014):
7,300 employed

Projected (2024):
7,500 employed

Projected growth (2014-2024)


Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2015 2014-2024 employment projections external site. "Projected growth" represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2014-2024). "Projected job openings" represent openings due to growth and replacement.

Alternate Titles:

  • Accelerator Systems Director
  • Materials Scientist
  • Metal Alloy Scientist
  • Micro Electrical/Mechanical Systems Device Scientist (MEMS Device Scientist)
  • Nanotechnologist
  • Plastics Scientist
  • Polymer Materials Consultant
  • Polymer Specialist
  • Research and Development Scientist (R and D Scientist)
  • Research Scientist
  • Senior Materials Scientist
  • Staff Research Scientist
  • Staff Scientist
  • Technology Officer
  • Vice President Research

    • Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

    Experience:

    Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

    Education:

    Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

    Job Training:

    Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

    Required Skills:

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Listening
  • Writing
  • Speaking
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Critical Thinking
  • Active Learning
  • Learning Strategies
  • Monitoring
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Coordination
  • Persuasion
  • Negotiation
  • Instructing
  • Service Orientation
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Operations Analysis
  • Technology Design
  • Equipment Selection
  • Programming
  • Operation Monitoring
  • Operation and Control
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Troubleshooting
  • Repairing
  • Quality Control Analysis
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Systems Analysis
  • Systems Evaluation
  • Time Management
  • Management of Financial Resources
  • Management of Material Resources
  • Management of Personnel Resources

    • Knowledge Used:

  • Administration and Management
  • Clerical
  • Economics and Accounting
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Personnel and Human Resources
  • Production and Processing
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Engineering and Technology
  • Design
  • Building and Construction
  • Mechanical
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Biology
  • Psychology
  • Sociology and Anthropology
  • Geography
  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • Education and Training
  • English Language
  • Foreign Language
  • History and Archeology
  • Public Safety and Security
  • Law and Government
  • Telecommunications
  • Communications and Media
  • Transportation

    • Tasks:

  • Plan laboratory experiments to confirm feasibility of processes and techniques used in the production of materials having special characteristics.
  • Confer with customers to determine how to tailor materials to their needs.
  • Conduct research on the structures and properties of materials, such as metals, alloys, polymers, and ceramics, to obtain information that could be used to develop new products or enhance existing ones.
  • Devise testing methods to evaluate the effects of various conditions on particular materials.
  • Determine ways to strengthen or combine materials or develop new materials with new or specific properties for use in a variety of products and applications.
  • Recommend materials for reliable performance in various environments.
  • Test individual parts and products to ensure that manufacturer and governmental quality and safety standards are met.
  • Visit suppliers of materials or users of products to gather specific information.
  • Research methods of processing, forming, and firing materials to develop such products as ceramic dental fillings, unbreakable dinner plates, and telescope lenses.
  • Test material samples for tolerance under tension, compression, and shear to determine the cause of metal failures.
  • Test metals to determine conformance to specifications of mechanical strength, strength-weight ratio, ductility, magnetic and electrical properties, and resistance to abrasion, corrosion, heat, and cold.
  • Teach in colleges and universities.
  • Perform experiments and computer modeling to study the nature, structure, and physical and chemical properties of metals and their alloys, and their responses to applied forces.
  • Prepare reports, manuscripts, proposals, and technical manuals for use by other scientists and requestors, such as sponsors and customers.
  • Supervise and monitor production processes to ensure efficient use of equipment, timely changes to specifications, and project completion within time frame and budget.

    • Tools & Technology:

  • Accelerometers
  • Annealing ovens
  • Atomic absorption AA spectroscopes
  • Atomic force microscopes
  • Auger electron spectrometers
  • Backscatter detectors
  • Ball mills
  • Ball-on-disk tribometers
  • Blungers
  • Box furnaces
  • Capacitance manometers
  • Capillary rheometers
  • Charge-coupled device CCD cameras
  • Cold isostatic presses
  • Computerized numerical control CNC machining centers
  • Cone viscometers
  • Contact angle goniometers
  • Creep testing equipment
  • Crystal growers
  • Desktop computers
  • Diamond wafering saws
  • Dielectric spectrometers
  • Differential scanning calorimeters
  • Differential thermal analyzers
  • Digital oscilloscopes
  • Dilatometers
  • Double push rod dilatometers
  • Dynamic actuators
  • Dynamic light scattering equipment
  • Dynamic mechanical analyzers DMA
  • Electrode furnaces
  • Electrolytic etching machines
  • Ellipsometers
  • Erosion testers
  • Extruding machines
  • Field emission scanning electron microscopes
  • Fourier transform infrared FTIR spectrometers
  • Freeze dryers
  • Fume hoods
  • Function generators
  • Gamma ray spectrometers
  • Gas chromatograph mass spectrometers GC-MS
  • Glove box systems
  • Grinding spindles
  • High vacuum evaporation systems
  • High-speed cutoff saws
  • High-vacuum manifolds
  • Horizontal tube furnaces
  • Hot isostatic presses
  • Hot mounting presses
  • Hydraulic presses
  • Imaging ellipsometers
  • Impact testers
  • Induction furnaces
  • Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometers ICP-MS
  • Industrial computed tomography CT scanners
  • Injection molding machines
  • Interferometric microscopes
  • Ion analyzers
  • Laboratory analytical balances
  • Laboratory water purification systems
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser interferometers
  • Linear variable differential transformers LVDT
  • Load cells
  • Macrohardness testers
  • Manual grinders
  • Metal evaporation chambers
  • Metallographic microscopes
  • Microcalorimeters
  • Microscope digital cameras
  • Mobile mass spectrometers
  • Mossbauer spectroscopes
  • Muffle furnaces
  • Multisample autoclaves
  • Nanoscope atomic force microscopes
  • Neutron reflectometers
  • Nitrogen furnaces
  • Optical compound microscopes
  • Optical profilometers
  • Peltier cooled solid-state detectors
  • Personal computers
  • Petrographic microscopes
  • Plasma arc melting furnaces
  • Plate viscometers
  • Pore sizers
  • Potentiostats
  • Profilometers
  • Programmable logic controllers PLC
  • Pulverizers
  • Quartz crystal microbalances
  • Quartz crystal thickness monitors
  • Raman scattering spectroscopes
  • Reactive ion etchers RIE
  • Rotational viscometers
  • Safety glasses
  • Safety goggles
  • Salt spray chambers
  • Scanning electron microscopes SEM
  • Scanning Kelvin probes
  • Scanning probe microscopes SPM
  • Scanning tunneling microscopes STM
  • Scratch testers
  • Screw injection molding machines
  • Secondary ion mass spectrometers SIMS
  • Sedigraphs
  • Semi-microbalances
  • Semiautomatic grinders
  • Servohydraulic test machines
  • Shaker ball mills
  • Slurry abrasion testers
  • Sonic modulus testers
  • Spectrofluorimeters
  • Spectrophotometers
  • Spectrum analyzers
  • Sputter deposition systems
  • Static actuators
  • Stereo microscopes
  • Stylus profilometers
  • Swaging tools
  • Tape casters
  • Thermal gravimetric analyzers
  • Thermal spray torches
  • Theta-theta diffractometers
  • Titanium autoclaves
  • Transmission electron microscopes TEM
  • Tube furnaces
  • Ultra high temperature furnaces
  • Ultra microbalances
  • Ultraprecision lathes
  • Ultrasonic analyzers
  • Ultrasonic cleaners
  • UV exposure chambers
  • Vibrating sample magnetometers
  • Vibratory polishers
  • X ray diffractometers
  • X ray generators
  • Accelrys Materials Studio
  • Advanced Chemistry Development Analytical Laboratory
  • ANSYS LS-DYNA
  • ANSYS Multiphysics
  • Bruker AXS EVA
  • Bruker AXS LEPTOS
  • Bruker AXS TOPAS
  • Chempute Software HSC Chemistry
  • Dassault Systemes Abaqus
  • Email software
  • ESM Software CrystalMaker
  • GAMESS-US
  • General Structural Analysis System GSAS
  • International Centre for Diffraction Data ICDD DDView
  • Maplesoft Maple
  • Materials Data Incorporated Jade
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Multichannel microelectrode analyzer MMA software
  • National Instruments LabVIEW
  • Olympus analysis software
  • PANalytical X'Pert Data Collector
  • PANalytical X'Pert Epitaxy
  • PWscf
  • RIETAN
  • SolidWorks COSMOSWorks
  • Stewart Computational Chemistry MOPAC
  • The MathWorks MATLAB
  • VAMP/VASP
  • Web browser software
  • Wolfram Research Mathematica

    • life physical and social science

    industry stats

    SOC: 19-0000

    Total Employed: 1,146,110

    Average Annual Salary: $71,220