12 awesome jobs for people who love science

YouTubeIf there's one thing Bill Nye taught us, it's that science is cool.

Did you start your mornings with "Bill Nye the Science Guy" as a kid? Did you ace you chemistry and physics classes in high school? Do you dream of wearing a lab coat to work?

If so, you might have a thing for science.

To find the top 12 jobs for science lovers, we used data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a US Department of Labor database full of detailed information on almost 1,000 occupations.

One of the many things O*NET analyzes is how important science is to each of the 974 jobs in its database.

Using BLS data, we also looked at the average annual pay for jobs where science had an "importance" rating of 81 or higher.

As it turns out, most of these science-heavy gigs pay fairly well - but this doesn't come as a surprise, given that almost every occupation on the list requires an advanced degree (and all 12 require at least a bachelor's).

So, if you love science and you're willing to go the extra mile in your education, you may want to consider the following professions: