Staff 
The laboratory employs about 500 per- 
sons. A director, an assistant director 
for research, and an assistant director 
for regulatory activities head the ad- 
ministrative staff. 
One-fifth of the staff are scientists— 
research veterinarians, bacteriologists, 
biochemists, physicists, and other biologi- 
cal scientists. A number of laboratory 
assistants and technicians are employed. 
An engineer is in charge of operation 
and maintenance of the center, which re- 
quires as many utilities and services as 
a small city. Maintenance and service 
crews include electricians, air-condition- 
ing specialists, plumbers, and carpenters. 
Animal caretakers and animal handlers 
work directly with livestock used in ex- 
periments. Among the many other 
employees are a glass blower, a photog- 
rapher, farm helpers, dishwasher oper- 
ators, and laundry workers. 
Many of the laboratory’s senior scien- 
tists were engaged in animal disease 
research for the Department of Agri- 
culture at Beltsville before the Ames 
laboratory was opened. Other staff 
members are former college teachers, re- 
search workers in State or industrial 
laboratories, or recent college graduates. 
Many research workers hold master’s or 
Ph. D. degrees; about three-fourths of 
the scientists are veterinarians. lIowa 
State University has appointed some of 
the laboratory’s specialists to its grad- 
uate staff. 
At the National Animal Disease Lab- 
oratory, these Federal scientists form re- 
search teams to investigate domestic 
animal diseases. Such a team may in- 
clude two or three—or all—of the fol- 
lowing: a research veterinarian, a 
virologist, a bacteriologist, a chemist, a 
pathologist, and a physiologist. It is 
possible for team members to work side- 
by-side in independent investigations of 
a single disease. More often, several 
scientists with different specialties at- 
tack the same disease problem in a single 
laboratory animal, and each contributes 
his findings to a cooperative experiment. 
One of the major benefits of this team 
approach is the exchange of ideas and 
enthusiasm generated between scientists 
with different research specialties who 
are not ordinarily associated. 
N—40824 
Reception area of administration building. 
N—40826 
Conference in laboratory auditorium. 
