A science professor’s responsibilities vary greatly depending on the level of education at which he or she works, as well as the type of science on which he or she focuses, which can range from life and physical sciences to technical fields closely related to engineering, such as computer science. Professors are upper-ranking university academics who are often department heads in the United Kingdom, whereas the term is much more loosely applied to science teachers at both two- and four-year institutes of higher education in other western nations such as the United States and Canada. A science professor’s formal responsibilities, on the other hand, include conducting original research and publishing the results, teaching students, which often includes mentoring graduate students, and representing their educational institution in the public eye.
A science professor must have completed at least 8 years of post-secondary education at the doctoral level, which qualifies him or her to supervise and frequently teach university courses in their field of specialization. In disciplines such as archeology, the teaching role entails both lecturing and the preparation and grading of student laboratory, written, or computer-based work, as well as supervising field work. Professors of science also serve as academic advisers to their students, advising them on the best course of study for their academic careers and how to master the subject matter.
A lesser-known function of the science professor is that of governance within the university system. This may entail serving on boards that help to shape the future of educational programs and, to some extent, determine how staffing and funding are allocated. Curriculum changes and graduation requirements are frequently made in consultation with the senior science professor in a given department, as he or she is the most knowledgeable about the science being taught there.
Certain fields of science also lend themselves well to a high level of public interaction for the science professor, and this interaction is frequently fraught with controversy. Biology professors are frequently called upon to explain the origin and adaptation of life in the natural world, for example, from an evolutionary standpoint. This may conflict with religious beliefs or contradictory scientific evidence from other fields that has yet to be resolved.
Not only is the physics or astronomy professor called upon to explain discoveries that reveal the nature of physical reality and space cosmology, but also the origins of the universe. Questions of human morality based on the origin of consciousness inevitably arise as a physical science professor delves deeper and deeper into the fundamental nature of matter and time. As a result, a science professor may be asked to act as a philosopher in public presentations, speculating on what recent discoveries mean in terms of humanity defining its place and role in the larger scheme of things. This inevitably leads to speculation about humanity’s future and whether we are the only sentient species in the universe. If a science professor’s field of study is neurobiology or psychology, which are often open-ended fields of research with many more questions than answers, the nature of the mind and societal norms are questions that the science professor must confront both in public and private.