Major Requirements
All students pursuing a degree program must take OCN 620 , OCN 622 , and OCN 623 . For non-biological students, the sequence is completed by taking OCN 621 . Biological students complete the sequence by taking OCN 626 , OCN 627 , and OCN 628 . Marine geology and geochemistry students must take CHEM 351 (if they have not already successfully completed a college-level course in physical chemistry). Students may be admitted to the MS program upon successful completion of the appropriate sequence. To be admitted to the PhD program, a student must receive a positive recommendation from a PhD-qualifying committee.
Degree Requirements
Both the MS and PhD programs require a minimum of 36 credit hours, including 24 credit hours of course work. The 24 semester hours of course work must be in courses numbered 600 or above (excluding OCN 699 , OCN 700 , OCN 800 , and seminar courses). At least 12 of those semester hours must consist of courses taken from three of the following groups: biological oceanography, geological oceanography, chemical oceanography, physical oceanography, mathematical methods and statistics, and atmospheric sciences. MS (PhD) students are required to write a thesis (dissertation) based on original research. For MS students, to ensure a minimum effort spent learning the proper conduct of research, a requirement of six credits of both OCN 699 and OCN 700 has been established, but usually more credits will be required to complete the thesis (about 12 more credits of OCN 699 ). No minimum requirement for OCN 699 or OCN 800 is set for PhD students due to the much larger effort that is always required to produce a PhD dissertation.
Prior to completion of their graduate degree, biological oceanography students must have satisfactorily completed either an undergraduate or graduate course in statistics. Students specializing in marine geology and geochemistry must take at least one, advanced geochemistry course. All students must complete a seminar requirement, demonstrate computer competency, and accumulate at least 30 days of field experience. PhD candidates must also pass a comprehensive examination. All students must pass a final oral examination in defense of their thesis/dissertation.
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