meet the first freshman oceanography majors at texas a&mthe department of oceanographys new undergraduate degree welcomed freshman students for the first time this fall semesteroct 22 2018did you know that the fightin texas aggie class of 2022 is the very first freshman class at texas a&m university to include oceanography majors texas a&m has long offered graduate degrees in oceanography but the first bachelor of science in oceanography degree at texas a&m university began accepting transfer and change of major students just last year the bs degree in oceanography provides students with an interdisciplinary education and training in one of three tracks in ocean sciences: ocean observing systems and technology (oost); ocean climate (oc); and marine ecosystem science and health (mesh) the department of oceanography is very excited to be able to offer this new stem degree the bs degree in oceanography said dr shari yvon-lewis professor and oceanography department head this new program will help support both the land-grant and sea-grant missions of texas a&m university as this new degree is tailored to provide skills for new oceanography-related jobs as well as skills that are transferable to a wide array of technical careers a large majority of our faculty are teaching in the new major said dr christina wiederwohl instructional associate professor in oceanography because we've offered an oceanography minor for a while our faculty have been fully invested in undergraduate teaching even before this major was offered starting this fall a total of 21 undergraduate students including freshmen change of majors and transfer students are enrolled in this new oceanography undergraduate degree programnew oceanography freshman hunter adams (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)hunter adams graduated from the science and engineering magnet high school in dallas texas is a third-generation aggie and is one of the first oceanography undergraduate freshman oceanography was the perfect major for me to pursue since i enjoyed every science class and was interested in environmental research such as climate change during high school he said also while searching for different degree programs i actually reached out dr piers chapman and he gave me great influence on my decision to apply here the in-depth graduate programs and numerous experiences of professors in the field that is what drew me to texas a&m oceanography i am so excited to be one of the first undergraduate student in oceanography i feel like it is making history for the entire degree program like a pioneer and i find a lot of excitement because i can make the degree program better for students following me adams saidoceanography senior victoria scriven (photo courtesy of victoria scriven)victoria scriven is a senior student who switched from environmental geosciences to oceanography major her undergraduate research project is focused on coastal studies i chose to change my major to oceanography because it was already my research focus and getting the opportunity to shift gears to a degree entirely based on classes and the department that i loved was a very natural fit scriven said being the first oceanography student is definitely exciting she said it means more than i can say to be a part of a group of ocean-minded students that will help define a degree that will continue on for generations knowing we have such a strong department of professors and faculty that want to help us succeed is personally what drew me to the program and what made the decision to change my major transfer all the more rewardingoceanography junior samantha longridge (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)i feel proud of myself to be one of the first oceanography undergraduates said samantha longridge who started as a freshman in biology major switched to environmental geosciences and finally to oceanography major i actually started my undergraduate degree as a biology major; i quickly realized that the biology major is geared towards people with an interest in medical school and i discovered geosciences longridge said i had never heard the word ‘geoscience until i came to college and took ocng 251 because i thought i might be interested i quickly realized after taking that class that oceanography was what i wanted to do i love this department and this subject and i think its amazing that the oldest oceanography department in the united states has finally made an undergraduate program she saidoceanography junior krista barentine (photo courtesy of bumsoo kim)krista barentine is a junior student who transferred from texas state university to texas a&m environmental geosciences major and switched to oceanography i had always been interested in the ocean growing up and knew that is what i wanted to do; that is why i switched my major to oceanography when the new undergraduate degree was finally made barentine said becoming one of the first oceanography undergraduate student is really cool it is rewarding to be able to raise awareness and get others interested in the ocean because i think the ocean is our future to find out more information about the bs in oceanography visit the department of oceanography degree program or contact the department of oceanography academic advisor by bumsoo kim