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Ocean Sciences
Earth & Marine Sciences Bldg.
A-312 Office
A-316 Mailroom
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone: (831) 459-4730
Fax: (831) 459-4882
Email: Ocean Sciences
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The Ocean Sciences Department includes faculty and students involved in oceanography and other marine sciences and sponsors undergraduate and graduate courses in these disciplines. Through faculty sponsors, students have access to a wide variety of research facilities and equipment... [More]

Undergraduate Programs:  Although offering a range of undergraduate courses, the Ocean Sciences Department presently offers only graduate degrees. The undergraduate major in marine biology, sponsored by the Biological Sciences Departments, includes required and elective courses in ocean sciences, and there is an ocean sciences concentration in Earth sciences for undergraduates. Students interested in ocean sciences should major in a discipline such as biology, marine biology, chemistry, Earth sciences, physics, or mathematics and take ocean sciences-related electives. Students with a bachelor's degree in one of these disciplines or equivalent course work may apply directly for admission to the graduate program through the Division of Graduate Studies.

The Ocean Sciences department offers a Ocean Sciences Master of Science degree.
The degree combines core courses and electives to provide depth and breadth in ocean sciences with a focused thesis to provide experience in original research. In addition to the core Ocean Sciences faculty, the Affiliated Faculty includes faculty from related disciplines within Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Environmental Studies, and Physics who sponsor students in the program. While the Ocean Sciences Ph.D. program has a focused oceanographic orientation, the Ocean Sciences Masters program is more broad, and has traditionally attracted many students in marine biology and ecology. All of the four pathways described in the Ph.D. program description, as well as customized programs of study that combine related disciplines, are supported.

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CURRENT MASTERS STUDENT INFORMATION               
GRADUATE HANDBOOK

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The doctoral program leading to the Ph.D. degree in ocean sciences

is designed with a core training in oceanography, supplemented and focused by advanced training in oceanography and in the traditional disciplines (biology, chemistry, Earth sciences, and physics) as chosen by the students and their advisors. The core training is provided through core courses in ocean sciences, a subset of which is taken by all students in the first two years, and reinforced by the student's seminars throughout the program. In addition to core courses in ocean sciences, preparation includes upper-division/graduate courses in ocean sciences and in the specialty discipline, graduate seminars, independent research credits, participation in departmental student seminar series, and a minimum requirement for the number of quarters as a teaching assistant. There is no formal language requirement.

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CURRENT Ph.D. STUDENT  INFORMATION             
GRADUATE HANDBOOK

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