Individual Occupational Requirements for
GS-440: Genetics Series
The text below is extracted verbatim from
Section IV-B of the Operating Manual for Qualification Standards
for General Schedule Positions (p.IV-B-63), but contains minor edits
to conform to web-page requirements.
Use these individual occupational requirements in
conjunction with the "Group Coverage Qualification Standard for
Professional and Scientific Positions."
Basic Requirements: Degree: genetics; or one of the basic biological sciences that included at least 9
semester hours in genetics.
Graduate Education: Genetics, or a curriculum or pattern of training that placed major emphasis on
genetics. Graduate study in related fields such as agronomy, horticulture, animal, dairy, or poultry
husbandry, entomology, microbiology, plant pathology, chemistry, molecular and cellular biology, and
physiology that involved cross-training in genetics is qualifying, provided it placed sufficient emphasis on
genetics.
Evaluation of Education: Most students in the field take graduate work because specific training in genetics
may be limited at the undergraduate level. Under these circumstances, it may be necessary to evaluate
undergraduate course work in genetics in one of two ways, as described below, to determine whether or
not it is qualifying.
- Courses dealing with genetics, some phase of genetics, or specific techniques
that are applied in genetics work are acceptable. This includes courses in
genetics, plant or animal genetics, molecular and cellular biology, mathematics
and statistics (as they apply to genetics), population dynamics, and certain
techniques such as those dealing with irradiation.
- Course work consisting of an appropriate combination of basic courses in
genetics and cytology or statistics are also acceptable.
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