All Option Areas and Courses

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Listed by Option Area: CSS - Coastal Systems Science
Listed by Option Area: ICM - Integrated Coastal Management
Listed by Option Area: LMRSM - Living Marine Resources Science and Management
Listed by Option Area: MASMA - Marine and Atmospheric System Modeling and Analysis
Listed by Option Area: MBEC - Marine Biogeochemistry and Environmental Change
Listed by Option Area: MOT - Marine Observation Technologies
Listed by Option Area: OHH - Ocean and Human Health

Option Areas of Study:

CSS - Coastal Systems Science
ICM - Integrated Coastal Management
LMRSM - Living Marine Resources Science and Management
MASMA - Marine and Atmospheric System Modeling and Analysis
MBEC - Marine Biogeochemistry and Environmental Change
MOT - Marine Observation Technologies
OHH - Ocean and Human Health

Core Courses:

To achieve interdisciplinary breadth and depth, each SMS student will take a number of courses, dependending on the degree sought, courses in five areas:

• Biological Oceanography (BO)
• Chemical Oceanography (CO)
• Physical Oceanography (PO)
• Socio-Economics of Coastal/Marine Systems (S/E)
• Marine-Related Technologies (MT)

Courses in BO, CO, and PO are generally taken in the first 4 to 6 semesters (preferably in the first 2). For each area, course content is fairly uniform, though there may multiple offerings between campuses.

Courses in S/E and MT are taken after selection of an area of concentration. Course content is not uniform and selection of course should be consistent with a student’s concentration area. Depending on the student’s concentration, the socio-economic requirement might be met best by courses in policy, economics, law or international/intergovernmental relations. Courses satisfying the technology requirement could be drawn from such areas as marine measurement technology, wastewater, and environmental mitigation technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Data/Information Management Systems, graphic display technologies or marine modeling approaches.

To build on the core courses, each SMS student selects an area of concentration and chooses electives appropriate to this concentration, as approved by their faculty advisor and/or thesis committee. (See Degrees for a complete description of program requirements.) Reflecting the interdisciplinary character of SMS, both natural and social science courses support certain concentrations and many courses support more than one concentration.

Students typically take most of their courses on the campus where they and their major faculty advisor are in residence. Some courses; however, including at least two core courses each semester, will also be taught using the University’s substantial distance learning facilities. Students may also choose to be in residence at different campuses for a period of time during their course of study, in order to take certain courses or to take advantage of research opportunities.

The Concentrations of Study section (below) describes each area of concentration and lists the courses associated with the respective concentration. The Courses section (below) lists all SMS courses, identifies the core courses and their respective core areas, and provides other pertinent course information.