Also called: Polar Research Technician, South Pole Winter-Over Scientist
Keeps science experiments running in Antarctica, sometimes through a dark winter at the South Pole.
Research associates run telescopes, atmospheric instruments, and neutrino detectors, sometimes wintering over for nine months at the South Pole in total darkness with about 40 people and no flights in or out.
Estimate; room and board are free on station.
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 physics, engineering, or science. The U.S. Antarctic Program hires through contractors for 4-12 month contracts at McMurdo, Palmer, and South Pole stations.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Physics, Engineering, Atmospheric Science.
Growing slowly. No separate BLS projection; estimate based on related occupations.
Low risk for 10 years. Instruments are increasingly automated and remote-monitored, but someone still has to fix and run them through a polar winter on site.
Classes: AP Physics, Electronics or engineering CTE, AP Calculus, Computer Science.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-4099.
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.