Also called: Museum Preparator
Carefully frees fossils from rock and prepares them for study and display.
Uses tiny air-powered chisels and dental picks under a microscope to remove rock from a dinosaur skull, a few millimeters a day, then glues fragile pieces together.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in geology or biology often preferred; many trained on the job as volunteers.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Geology, Biology, Museum Studies.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years). Estimate.
Low risk for 10 years. Freeing fossils with tiny chisels under a microscope is painstaking handwork machines can't do.
Classes: Earth science, Biology, Art or sculpture.
Official data: O*NET occupation 25-4013.
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