FWIW, I was a Research Scientist there, a bit over a decade ago, despite having only MS degrees, no PhD.
I knew of a few Research Scientists there who didn't have PhDs, so I didn't think it that unusual at the time I was hired. At one point shortly after arriving, I did suddenly wonder whether some rule had been bent, or there was a hiccup in some process that was supposed to block that, but I still got an appointment renewal after a year.
As the recipient of getting to work for a great PI, and of a title that sounded impressive to my parents, I can't complain about that.
(I might've been lucky that time. I'm not a fan of degree/class/caste ceilings. For one one of many reasons... There's the tragic story of a dear friend, who was a lab tech at another research university, in a field that had a degree glass ceiling among the technician ranks. Her supervisor and lab director sounded very supportive, and said she was the best technician in the lab, but their hands were tied on promoting her to a higher technician rank. She couldn't stomach the doctorate-level degree debt load that the supervisor was encouraging (she was poor, already had debt, and no family safety net), though it would've leapfrogged her over the role she sought. So she tried earning affordable transferable credits, for the gatekeeping for the next rank for which she was already qualified, while working full-time and living in lousy conditions. It killed her at around 30. Her lab did a memorial service. I got invited, but I didn't go. Besides being devastated myself, I was sure the supervisor and director already felt awful, and I had nothing to say in a memorial service context to certain cliquish technicians who bullied her for being meticulous about science protocols, and perhaps for aspiring above her station.)
FWIW, I was a Research Scientist there, a bit over a decade ago, despite having only MS degrees, no PhD.
I knew of a few Research Scientists there who didn't have PhDs, so I didn't think it that unusual at the time I was hired. At one point shortly after arriving, I did suddenly wonder whether some rule had been bent, or there was a hiccup in some process that was supposed to block that, but I still got an appointment renewal after a year.
As the recipient of getting to work for a great PI, and of a title that sounded impressive to my parents, I can't complain about that.
(I might've been lucky that time. I'm not a fan of degree/class/caste ceilings. For one one of many reasons... There's the tragic story of a dear friend, who was a lab tech at another research university, in a field that had a degree glass ceiling among the technician ranks. Her supervisor and lab director sounded very supportive, and said she was the best technician in the lab, but their hands were tied on promoting her to a higher technician rank. She couldn't stomach the doctorate-level degree debt load that the supervisor was encouraging (she was poor, already had debt, and no family safety net), though it would've leapfrogged her over the role she sought. So she tried earning affordable transferable credits, for the gatekeeping for the next rank for which she was already qualified, while working full-time and living in lousy conditions. It killed her at around 30. Her lab did a memorial service. I got invited, but I didn't go. Besides being devastated myself, I was sure the supervisor and director already felt awful, and I had nothing to say in a memorial service context to certain cliquish technicians who bullied her for being meticulous about science protocols, and perhaps for aspiring above her station.)