Employment at National Laboratories

Scientists enter the National Laboratory System for many different reasons. For some, faculty positions are scarce, so they take staff-scientist position at national laboratories (i.e. Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Los Alamos, and Brookhaven). Many plan to work at the National Laboratory for 5 to 7 years and then seek an academic post. For many (these authors included), before they know it it’s 15 or 20 years later and they never seriously considered leaving the laboratory system.