Also called: PET Radiochemist
Makes short-lived radioactive tracers for PET scans in the middle of the night.
Your shift starts around 2 a.m. You fire up a cyclotron to make radioactive fluorine, run it through an automated chemistry box, test it, and get it to hospitals before it decays.
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 chemistry or physics, or a nuclear technology associate degree.
Ways in: 4-year college, 2-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemistry, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Physics.
Growing faster than average. BLS does not project this specialty separately; rating estimated from related occupations.
Low risk for 10 years. Synthesis boxes are already automated; running the cyclotron at 2 a.m., testing and fixing problems stay human.
Classes: Chemistry, Physics, Algebra II.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-4031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.