Education & Career Resources
The ocean and aquatic sciences include an enormous variety of careers and areas of study. The resources here will help you explore where you can go in the fields of ocean, aquatic and related sciences, including to begin your search for undergraduate and graduate programs that will set you on your career pathway.
Discover the Depths!
There are so many options for careers related to ocean and aquatic science. These career resources will give you just a sense of those opportunities so that, with a mind open to possibility, you can chart your own course.
Only the academic programs of our Center for Ocean Leadership (COL) Affiliates and NOSB Regional Host Institutions are featured below. Help us keep this list of resources up to date! Send any suggested edits to nosb@ucar.edu.
- The Oceanography Society Career Profiles: Oceanography magazine includes a recurring column on “career profiles” of marine scientists who have pursued successful and fulfilling careers outside of academia.
- Marine Careers: A Sea Grant Guide to Ocean Opportunities
- OceanCareers: COSEE’s Ocean Career’s site allows you to explore different ocean science careers, higher education programs, internships, and other helpful information.
- Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Scholars: GoMRI profiles the Masters and PhD students participating in the program, including highlighting their research and the pathways that led them there.
- Working in the Aquatic Sciences: The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) site provides background and resources to enable you to pursue your interest in aquatic science.
- AGI Geoscience Workforce: The American Geosciences Institute geoscience workforce program offers information on a variety of geoscience careers.
- SustainabilityDegrees: A website focused on sustainability education and careers.
- American Meteorological Society Career Site: All about careers in the atmospheric and related sciences.
- Science Careers from the journal Science: This site offers a variety of information on careers in science, including helpful articles about the job market and trends.
- Careers in Oceanography, Marine Science & Marine Biology: This site lists numerous careers in a wide variety of fields in ocean and marine science.
- EnvironmentalScienceDegree: This site provides breakdowns of cost, demographic makeup, student-to-faculty ratios, and retention rates for hundreds of Environmental Science programs across the United States.
- Environmental Science Resources: Links to career options, degree programs, and scholarships in environmental science.
- SEVENSEAS Media Jobs: This NEW jobs list encompasses all environmental conservation jobs. We post 50+ new conservation jobs every week with over 45,000 views per month.
If you are a current high school senior looking for scholarships, check out our National Ocean Scholar Program.
Center for Ocean Leadership Affiliates and NOSB Host Institutions Offering Both Ocean Science Majors and Minors for Undergrads
- Boston University – Marine Program
- Coastal Carolina University – Department of Marine Science
- George Mason University – Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences
- Louisiana State University – Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Center for Ocean Engineering
- North Carolina State University – Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Old Dominion University – Department of Ocean & Earth Science
- Oregon State University
- Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey – Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences
- Savannah State University – Marine Sciences Program
- Stanford University –Earth Systems Program
- Stony Brook University – School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Texas A&M University, Galveston
- University of California, San Diego- Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- University of Connecticut – Marine Sciences
- University of Hawaii – School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology
- University of Michigan
- University of New Hampshire – School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering
- University of North Carolina Wilmington – Center for Marine Science
- University of San Diego – Department of Environmental and Ocean Sciences
- University of South Carolina – School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment
- University of Texas at Austin – Marine Science Institute and Department of Marine Science
- University of Washington
Center for Ocean Leadership Affiliate and NOSB Host Institutions Offering Undergraduate Majors Only
- Florida Atlantic University – Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
- Texas State University – Aquatic Biology Major
- University of Alaska Fairbanks – College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences
- University of Georgia – Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
- University of Maine – School of Marine Science
- University of Southern Mississippi – School of Ocean Science and Engineering
Center for Ocean Leadership Affiliates and NOSB Host Institutions Offering Undergraduate Minors (not majors)
- East Carolina University – Coastal and Marine Interdisciplinary Studies
- Texas A&M University at College Station – Department of Oceanography
- University of Colorado Boulder – Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
- University of Delaware – Earth, Ocean & Environment
- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill – Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences
- University of Southern California – Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
Center for Ocean Leadership Affiliate and NOSB Host Institutions Offering Undergraduate Courses (not majors)
Center for Ocean Leadership Affiliates and NOSB Host Institutions Offering Graduate Programs in the Ocean Sciences
- Boston University – Marine Program
- California State University – Moss Landing Marine Laboratories
- Coastal Carolina University – Department of Marine Science
- College of Charleston – Grice Marine Laboratory
- College of William & Mary – School of Marine Science/Virginia Institute of Marine Science
- Columbia University – Graduate Program in Earth & Environmental Sciences
- Duke University – Nicholas School of the Environment
- East Carolina University – Coastal Studies Institute
- Florida Atlantic University – Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
- Florida State University – Department of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Science
- George Mason University – Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences
- Louisiana State University – Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Center for Ocean Engineering
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT/WHOI Joint Program
- Naval Postgraduate School – Department of Oceanography
- North Carolina State University – Department of Marine, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
- Nova Southeastern University – Halmos College of Arts and Sciences
- Old Dominion University – Department of Ocean & Earth Sciences
- Oregon State University College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
- Oregon State University Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences
- Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey – Department of Marine & Coastal Sciences
- Savannah State University – Marine and Environmental Sciences
- Stanford University – Earth Systems Program
- Stanford University – School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences
- Stony Brook University – School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Texas A&M University at College Station – Department of Oceanography
- Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi – Department of Life Sciences
- Texas A&M University at Galveston
- Texas State University – Aquatic Resources Master of Science Program
- University of Alaska Fairbanks – College of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences
- University of California, Irvine – School of Physical Sciences
- University of California, Santa Barbara – Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science
- University of California, San Diego – Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- University of California, Santa Cruz – Ocean Sciences
- University of California, Santa Cruz – Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
- University of Colorado Boulder – Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
- University of Connecticut – Marine Science Program
- University of Delaware – Earth, Ocean & Environment
- University of Georgia – Skidaway Institute of Oceanography
- University of Hawaii – School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
- University of Maine – School of Marine Science
- University of Maryland – Center for Environmental Science
- University of Massachusetts – Intercampus Marine Science Graduate Program
- University of Miami – Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science
- University of Michigan – Earth and Environmental Sciences
- University of Michigan – Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering
- University of New Hampshire – School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering
- University of New Hampshire – Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences
- University of North Carolina at Wilmington – Biology and Marine Biology
- University of North Carolina at Wilmington – Center for Marine Science
- University of Rhode Island – Graduate School of Oceanography
- University of Rhode Island – Marine Affairs
- University of Rhode Island – Ocean Engineering
- University of San Diego – Master of Science in Environmental and Ocean Sciences
- University of Southern California – Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies
- University of South Carolina – School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment
- University of South Florida – College of Marine Science
- University of Southern Mississippi – School of Ocean Science and Engineering
- University of Texas at Austin – Marine Science Program at the Marine Institute
- University of Washington – School of Oceanography
- University of Washington – School of Marine and Environmental Affairs
- University of Washington – School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
- University of Wisconsin Milwaukee – School of Freshwater Sciences
