Students from around the United States and from other countries are enrolled in the four graduate programs of the college. The teaching and research programs within the college are highly interdisciplinary. They emphasize the interdependence of biological, chemical, physical, geological, and geophysical processes within and under the sea, and their interactions with atmospheric processes. The faculty of the college comprises groups of scientists representing each of the basic disciplines involved in the study of the sea and atmosphere. The interdisciplinary and informal character of the college promotes the rapid exchange of ideas often necessary for the solution of research or management problems.
Graduate students are essential participants in carrying out the research programs of the college.
See footnotes at the end of this section. Although no oceanography, geophysics, marine resource management or atmospheric science undergraduate major is available, there are sufficient offerings to provide interesting courses to motivated undergraduate students. Most employment in oceanography, atmospheric sciences and geophysics requires a graduate degree. Students planning on graduate study in the college are advised to complete a baccalaureate degree in a basic natural science, mathematics, or engineering. The college provides undergraduates with the opportunity to become acquainted with the fields offered through undergraduate-level courses in oceanography and atmospheric sciences taught by leading scientists.