The College of Charleston offers a graduate degree (M.S.) in Marine Biology. The program seeks to provide knowledge and skills that will allow graduates to pursue further graduate study and/or successfully pursue professional employment in the marine science field. The program consists of 26-27 hours of coursework and 4 hours of thesis research. The coursework involves four core classes: Marine Ecology, Physical Oceanography, Physiology and Cell Biology of Marine Organisms, and Biometry, in addition to a diverse selection of elective courses.
The program is based at the Grice Marine Laboratory, across the harbor from historic downtown Charleston and the main campus of the College of Charleston. Located near coastal marshes, tidal creeks and rivers, barrier islands, and the ocean, the program offers exceptional opportunities for basic and applied research. The cooperative nature of this program provides access to the facilities of all participating institutions at the Fort Johnson Marine Science Center: the Hollings Marine Laboratory, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, the National Ocean Service/NOAA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Medical University of South Carolina and Grice Marine Laboratory. These partners comprise a large and diverse faculty, including approximately 110 researchers ready to guide students in their respective area of interest. Training and research opportunities include marine ecology and conservation, biodiversity, evolutionary biology, cell and molecular biology, physiology, aquatic toxicology, fisheries science, mariculture, microbiology, biomedicine, and marine genomics. Research conducted by graduate students is typically presented to the public at local colloquia, national and international meetings, and through peer-reviewed publications. One distinctive feature of the program is that incoming students have the freedom to take a semester to meet faculty and learn more about the broad field of marine biology before choosing their research project and thesis advisor. The program has available teaching and research assistantships in which out-of-state portion of tuition fees may be waived. New students are guaranteed teaching assistantships for at least the first academic year. There is an average enrollment of about 50 graduate students in the marine biology program; almost all of these students receive financial assistance in the form of teaching or research assistantships. A number of scholarships are also available for new and current students, including a new scholarship program in marine genomics for a current stipend of $22,000 per year. Contact: Dr. Craig Plante, Director, Graduate Program in Marine Biology www.cofc.edu/marine, [email protected], 843-953-9187
