Academics
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Graduate Program
The graduate programs in Ocean Sciences are designed to prepare students for careers in research, teaching, and other environmentally related endeavors. The graduate programs encourage collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches, and are designed to support and promote diversity, equity and inclusion. From faculty training to peer mentoring and other programmatic elements, we are dedicated to fostering the success of all students in our program.
The program leading to a Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences is designed around a core training in oceanography for all students, supplemented and focused by advanced training in oceanography and in the traditional disciplines—biology, chemistry, Earth sciences, and physics—as chosen by the student and their advisers.
The Ocean Sciences Department offers a M.S. degree which can be obtained through Plan I: thesis (coursework and thesis), or Plan II: examination (coursework and comprehensive examination).
Our department is structured around four thematic areas of emphasis; biological oceanography, chemical oceanography, physical oceanography, and marine geology and geophysics. Our faculty members’ academic interests and interactions are not limited by these thematic groupings, and typically span more than one area.
Undergraduate Program
The UCSC Environmental Sciences (ESCI) major is an interdepartmental, undergraduate-only degree program shared between the Ocean Sciences Department and the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department. The purpose of the ESCI major is to educate students interested in environmental science problems and issues, with a focus on issues within the physical sciences (versus focusing on biological sciences). The major specializes primarily in the following areas of study:
- Climate and climate change: Earth’s past, present and future climate
- Global biogeochemical cycles: Cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, mercury, etc.
- Fresh Water: Water resources and water quality
- Pollution: Water pollution, air pollution, pollutant transport
- Oceans: Physical, chemical, and biological oceanography
- Atmosphere: Meteorology, air quality, and atmospheric chemistry
Courses in other areas are also available. The core faculty of the major are primarily from two departments, Earth and Planetary Sciences and Ocean Sciences.
If you would like to learn more about this major, please contact the Environmental Sciences advisor or either of the Environmental Sciences Faculty undergraduate advisors, Patrick Chuang or Carl Lamborg, for more information.