Skip to main content
Stanford Biosciences

Definitions

Job Sector Definitions | Jobs in Academia | Jobs in Biotechnology | Institution Classifications

Job Sector Definitions

We use job sectors to help organize employment trends with our alumni. These sectors reflect the employer’s industry, which is distinct from alumni job titles or responsibilities in these sectors.

  • Academia represents a variety of positions at colleges, universities or other research-oriented institutions. It does not include primary or secondary schools. Example employers in academia include Stanford University, San Jose State University and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. For further details on academic employers, please see Institution classifications below.
  • Banking & Finance employers are focused on the study and system of money and investment. Examples include H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • Biotechnology represents positions in medical device, medical technology and drug development companies. These positions may include scientific and non-scientific management roles. Examples include Genentech, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Illumina.
  • Consulting businesses advise other businesses on how to increase efficiency, raise profits and become more successful in their markets. Examples include The Boston Consulting Group, L.E.K. Consulting and Bain & Company.
  • Education represents primary and secondary schools, as well some educational companies. Examples include Castilleja School, Los Altos High School and Bloomington High School.
  • Government employers are institutions that are funded solely by the federal or state government. Examples include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the NASA Ames Research Center.
  • Health Care represents institutions with a focus on medical services, such as hospitals and doctors’ private practices, without a university affiliation. Examples include Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
  • IP/Law represents work in patent, corporate and technology transfer legal services. Examples include Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP, Morrison & Foerster LLP and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
  • Media & Communication can include a range of employers in media companies, but primarily refers to alumni working as writers or editors in scientific journals. Example employers include Cell Press, Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and American Journal Experts.
  • Other represents any vocation generally unrelated to science or a bioscience degree. Examples include Meadow Lark Farm Dinners, Rocko’s Ice Cream Tacos and Silvies Valley Ranch.
  • Technology generally refers to larger companies offering technology services or products. Examples include Amazon, Tesla and Google.

Employment Definitions

Jobs in Academia

  • Academic Staff: University positions that are not involved in research, health care or teaching. Focus is instead on administrative and support roles.
  • Faculty/Research Staff– Primary Research Focus: Professors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, and Staff leading or participating in research projects. Some may also have clinical responsibilities.
  • Faculty/Teaching Staff – Primary Teaching Focus: Professors, Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Instructors, and Staff who are primarily teaching. Some may also have clinical responsibilities, and some may also be engaged in research. This includes non-tenure track university positions.
  • Further Training or Education – Alumni that have continued their education beyond their PhD, may include but is not limited to obtaining an: MD, JD or MBA etc.
  • Postdocs: Postdocs and Residents (Clinical)

Jobs in Biotechnology

The following job titles are a sample of job titles found the Biotechnology sector. They are meant to offer examples of common job titles, but are not a complete list of the many positions held by Biosciences alumni.

Business titles

  • Account Manager
  • Advisor
  • Associate Director Partnering Strategy
  • Business Development Associate
  • CEO
  • Digital Marketing Director
  • Owner
  • Project Manager
  • User Experience Designer
  • Venture Partner

Research titles

  • Application Scientist
  • Bioinformatics Scientist
  • Biostatistician
  • Computational Biologist
  • Data Scientist
  • Field Applications Scientist
  • R&D Scientist
  • Reproductive Biology Lead
  • Scientist I/II
  • Senior DNA Engineer
  • Senior Scientist

Institution classifications

Employer data for schools and universities are generally organized according to doctoral Carnegie classifications. These classifications are based largely on the amount of research activity and number of doctoral degrees awarded by the institution each year. This allows us to quickly sort institutions and the various career paths they represent in a way that job titles do not always make clear.

  • R1 represents universities awarding at least 20 doctoral research/scholarship degrees or at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in two or more programs. These universities are also considered to have a strong focus on research activity, both in aggregate and per trainee. Additionally, they operate with at least $5 million in research expenditures per year, as reported through the National Science Foundation. Examples include Stanford University, MIT and UC Berkeley. Please note, UCSF is categorized as R1 for our tracking purposes.
  • R2 universities also award at least 20 doctoral research/scholarship degrees or at least 30 professional practice doctoral degrees in two or more programs, and have strong research programs. They are differentiated from R1 institutions thanks to slightly less investment in some aspect of their research activity, either with fewer facilities or fewer researchers. Research funding is still high though, with at least $5 million in research expenditures per year, as reported through the National Science Foundation. Examples include the University of Vermont, Chapman University and Baylor College.

The preceding classifications are based on the doctoral section of The Carnegie Classification of Institutions

Other classifications

  • Medical institutions are institutions that fall outside of R1 and R2 designations described above, partly due to their high concentration of degrees in or related to medicine over other fields of study. Examples include UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
  • Private colleges or universities are privately-funded schools in the United States that do not meet all the requirements of an R1 or R2 classification, and may include smaller, undergraduate-only programs. Examples include the Columbia College, Wesleyan University and Bethel University.
  • Public colleges or universities are primarily tax-funded schools in the United States that do not meet all the requirements of an R1 or R2 classification, and may include smaller, undergraduate-only programs. Examples include Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Medgar Evans College CUNY and Oregon Health & Science University.
  • Independent research institutes are not part of a university, government, hospital or corporation. While they may have close relationships with larger institutions such as universities, they are not part of the larger institution and operate under their own authority. Examples include Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute and the Gladstone Institute.
  • International institutions can offer a range of degree and research programs, and may have parity with many of the requirements of an R1 or R2 school. However, they are excluded from classifications like R1 and R2 by definition, which only include US schools. Examples include A*STAR in Singapore, McGill University in Canada and Oxford University in England.