http://ocean.tamu.edu/

Head: S. Yvon-Lewis

Graduate Director: C. Wiederwohl

Degrees

Degrees of Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy are offered in oceanography.  The department also offers the Master of Ocean Science and Technology (MOST) non-thesis master's degree. 

The Department of Oceanography has combined 5-year Bachelor's/ MOST Programs in conjunction with Environmental Geosciences, Atmospheric Sciences, Geology, and Oceanography. These combined programs offer motivated and exceptional students the opportunity to achieve aspirations in an efficient program at Texas A&M, completing a Bachelor's degree in one of these majors: Environmental Geosciences (BS), Meteorology (BS), Geology (BS), Oceanography (BS) and the Master of Ocean Science and Technology degree in 5 years. There are six credit hours used for dual credit in this program. There is a total of 150 hours of coursework. The concurrent degree program enables these motivated students to coordinate the required BS coursework (114 undergraduate credit hours plus 6 dual credit graduate courses) and MOST coursework (36 credit hours including the 6 dual credit graduate courses) to complete the required credit hours for each degree without diminishing scope or quality of work within 5 years.

Oceanography

Oceanography is the interdisciplinary science that focuses on the ocean, its contents and its boundaries. Whereas typical graduate programs lead to progressively greater amounts of specialization, oceanography as an interdisciplinary field admits graduates of specialized areas such as biology, chemistry, geology, geophysics, mathematics, physics or engineering and initially generalizes and broadens their education with a core of required courses. These core courses include the four specializations of the oceanography program—biological, chemical, geological and physical oceanography—as well as a seminar covering the state of the science. After this exposure to the interdisciplinary nature of oceanography, the graduate student refocuses in their particular subject area to pursue research at the leading edge of the science.

Required prerequisites are the equivalent of a BS STEM degree and basic courses in the fields mentioned above. All students are expected to have had mathematics through integral calculus, at least one year of calculus-based physics, and one year of chemistry. These are in addition to the usual amount of coursework in their major field of science or engineering.

To qualify for an advanced degree in oceanography, the student must demonstrate an ability to apply basic science to the marine environment. This capability requires a combination of principles and methods and a certain body of knowledge unique to oceanography; a student of oceanography must become conversant in all of the marine sciences.

Facilities and Participation in Research

Facilities include office, laboratory and classroom space in the 15-story David G. Eller Building for Oceanography and Meteorology on the College Station campus; the Geochemical and Environmental Research Group, which occupies 20,000 square feet of laboratory and office space and a warehouse-shop area of 8,000 square feet. Graduate students pursuing MS or PhD degrees usually take an active part in research grants and contracts awarded to individual professors or research teams by federal and state agencies, industry and private foundations.

• Master of Ocean Science and Technology in Ocean Science and Technology
• Master of Science in Oceanography

• Doctor of Philosophy in Oceanography

Oceanography