Philip,
I have many students who ask me this type of question. The answer
depends on what you want to do. I have worked with many bench
technologists who are responsible for the day to day experimentation
which underlies all of research. These are the people actuall doing
the experiments, and occasionally authoring papers. What these
individuals usually don't do are design the experiments, or lay out
the long range research plans and directions. In other words, they do
a lot of the work, but don't have the responsibility for writing
grants, etc. Unfortunately, they don't make great money (<25K/yr.)
If you want the opportunity for higher salary, you take on much more
responsibility. You also need a PhD. The question is, how much
responsibility do you want? Research environments are very
competitive, and grants are harder to get every year. Currently, NIH
rejects about two thirds of the applications it recieves. If your
position depends on that grant, it can be a very stressful time.
Also, once you get a PhD, you really can't go back without people
wondering about you. Be careful in your decision. It might be a good
idea to get you BS, then work in a research lab for 1 or 2 years to
see what the environment is like. You'll be in a much better position
to make rational decisions then.
Good Luck
Jay Mone' PhD
Millersville University
