duke at cairn.Eng.Sun.COM (Jack Duke) is "looking for career information"
for his son...
If he's really interested in genetics & genetic engineering, he'll
need to major in biology, molecular biology, biochemistry or some
related field in college. Possibly chemistry or chemical engineering.
Entry-level corporate/university research technical positions require
a B.S. or B.A.; advancement requires a Master's. To really get ahead
he'll need eventually a Ph.D. and/or M.D.
As for what a geneticist *does*... He/she does experiments based upon
genetic principles. These experiments could be highly molecular, like
cloning & manipulating DNA; or computational, like manipulating DNA
or protein sequences; or cellular, like determining where a given
gene or protein is produced; or organismic, like inducing mutations
& analyzing their effects on development; or ecological, like measuring
gene flows in populations. Experiments are done in the context of the
efforts of a scientific community, so a geneticist reads many research
articles published in current journals.
To acquaint yourselves further with how geneticists (biologists more
generally) work, you might give him copies of biographies or memoirs.
Evelyn Fox Keller's biography of Barbara McClintock ("A Feeling for
the Organism"), Arthur Kornberg's memoirs ("For The Love of Enzymes"),
and Francis Crick's "Oh What Mad Pursuit" all come to mind. Also,
Scientific American magazine has had an ongoing series of articles on
biology & more importantly on how things look in the lab.
I am just slightly surprised that you weren't able to get a university
professor interested in hosting your son. Research labs often have
room for summer assistants, but faculty usually like to have some chance
that the student actually will produce something. Being bright & motivated
aren't enough; some kind of self-taught background helps. All this is
something to shoot for.
Good luck!
--
Mark D. Garfinkel
e-mail: garfinkl at iitmax.acc.iit.edu
