Individual Occupational Requirements for
GS-403: Microbiology 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-56), 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: microbiology; or biology, chemistry, or basic medical science that
included at least 20 semester hours in microbiology and other subjects related
to the study of microorganisms, and 20 semester hours in the physical and
mathematical sciences combining course work in organic chemistry or biochemistry,
physics, and college algebra, or their equivalent.
OR
- Combination of education and experience--courses equivalent to a major in
microbiology, biology, chemistry, or basic medical science that included courses
as shown in A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.
Graduate Education: Microbiology, or specific area of study such as bacteriology, virology, mycology,
algology, protozoology, parasitology, immunology, serology, microbial genetics, or soil microbiology;
or specific applied fields of microbiology such as clinical and public health microbiology, food tech-nology, production processes, industrial fermentation, pollution, etc. Graduate study in related fields such
as experimental pathology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, biochemistry, animal or plant physiology,
genetics, plant pathology, and insect disease control, may also be pertinent, provided it has direct
application to microbiological work.
Evaluation of Education: Microbiology is a broad field of science encompassing a number of scientific
disciplines or areas of science, the fields in which this science is applied, and related fields where the work
is concerned with or involves microbiology. The scientific disciplines or areas of this science include
bacteriology, immunology, serology, algology, mycology, parasitology, protozoology, rickettsi-ology,
tissue culture, virology, and similar disciplines or areas of science. The applied fields include
environmental, food, dairy, soil, industrial, public health, clinical, and agricultural microbiology, and
similar areas in which microbiology is applied. Related fields include taxonomy and systematics, plant,
animal, or human physiology or pathology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, ecology, and similar areas
of science where the work is directly related or applies to microbiology. Except where the course work
deals with a limited and specific segment of the science, where it might be limited in usefulness, most of
the work, including that dealing with the development and use of microbiological methods, procedures,
and techniques, is qualifying. In interpreting the substantive value of the course work, credit may be given
for courses in related fields, depending on the degree to which the courses are related to micro-biological
work.
Evaluation of Experience: For positions at GS-9 that involve a substantial amount of work in a specific
specialized area or applied field of microbiology, at least 6 months of the experience must either have been
in the appropriate area of specialization or applied field of microbiology, or have direct application in the
area for which the applicant is being considered. For the GS-11 and higher grade levels of such specialized
positions, the experience must have been sufficiently specialized to insure adequate familiarity with the
area of specialization or applied field of microbiology, or have direct application in the area for which the
applicant is being considered.
Alternate requirement: For GS-14 clinical and public health microbiology positions, certification by the
American Board of Medical Microbiology/American Board of Medical Laboratory Immunology, or
election to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology fully meets the experience requirement
for such positions.
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