Grad school in marine biology
Joshua Hayes
programs in marine biology, but like Dean Pentcheff's attempt,
my mail bounced.
First, let me applaud Dean for his accurate portrayal of the
way graduate school works. While an undergraduate major in
biology prepares a student for some degree of specialization,
grad students (at least at the start) will still have to take
some "core" courses at most schools.
Now, what I write here is from the standpoint of a marine
biologist in the midst of his second post-doctoral appointment.
Still looking to land that big faculty job, more sugar, and a
big NSF grant....
Remember that "marine biology" is hardly a monolithic field.
I'd suggest going to the library (an academic one, not a public
one) and examining a few journals in the subject. I'd especially
recommend: Marine Biology (I think this is a Springer journal),
J. of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology (Elsevier; I like
this journal 'cuz they've published a couple of my papers :-),
Bulletin of Marine Science (U of Miami publication), Marine Ecology
Progress Series. See any papers that strike you as interesting?
See a bunch you find breathtakingly boring? Yeah, me too. But this
should help you narrow your focus a bit.
My background is in marine ecology, so I'm best able to comment on
places that emphasize that area.
I need to correct Dean on one thing; I believe that marine biology
at Woods Hole is concentrated (not surprisingly) at the Marine
Biology Laboratories (MBL). The graduate program there is, or
used to be, associated with Boston University, and had the charming
name of the Boston U Marine Program, or BUMP. Basically, if you can
get the grant money, however, you can be ANYWHERE and work at MBL.
It's an excellent facility, and the faculty at WHOI may be helpful,
too.
The University of Rhode Island has the Graduate School of Oceanography,
GSO, and it is excellent. It has NOAA and NMFS labs across the road,
too, and some fine facilities and faculty.
The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences is a branch
of the University of Miami and is one of the top places in the
world for marine research. 'Nuf said.
The U of Hawaii is, of course, strong in research on its rather
unusual fauna.
Stanford has a wonderful facility in the Hopkins Marine Laboratory,
and some very fine people in the program. Or, wait a minute, was
that lab destroyed in the quake? I heard something to that effect...
As Dean said, the U of Washington has a very good program, but
it appears to be a little too big from my perspective. You'd want
to come out to work with a particular person or two, with some
research projects in mind, and in general be pretty sure of what
you want to do, otherwise you could get lost in the shuffle. The
Friday Harbor lab is a great place, though.
The U of Maryland has a few very fine people (like Geerat Vermeij)
and a really good lab on the Chesapeake. The Virginia Institute of
Marine Sciences (VIMS) is part of William and Mary and is very fine,
though they concentrate on blue-water stuff and soft-bottom ecology.
Not my shtick, but if you're into it.....
Well, that's too much already. Here's what you do. READ some papers,
figure out WHAT you want to do, and WHO's doing it. Contact them.
Ask them what you should do; it's a real seller's market out there,
as the number of grad applicants keeps falling. Good luck with it.
Dr. Josh Hayes, Center for Quantiative Sciences, UW Seattle
jo...@mowgli.cqs.washington.edu
What I say is my opinion, and may or may not be that of CQS or UW.