Marine and Atmospheric Science

Type of degree: Ph.D.

Brief overview of program: The Rosenstiel School has a faculty of over 100 scientists who conduct sponsored research while offering studies leading to the Master of Science, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. The School offers curricula in applied marine physics, marine affairs and policy, marine and atmospheric chemistry, marine biology and fisheries, marine geology and geophysics, and meteorology and physical oceanography. With the College of Arts and Sciences, the School has developed undergraduate programs leading to the Bachelor of Science degree in marine science and meteorology or the Bachelor of Arts degree in marine affairs and policy. Land has been allocated by the City of Miami and Metropolitan Dade County for the development of a major world center for oceanographic research on Virginia Key. Now located adjacent to the Rosenstiel School are laboratories of the Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories and the Southeast Fisheries Center of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies links NOAA and the University of Miami. Also on Virginia Key is the Miami Seaquarium.

Website: Click here for program website

Tuition (2007):In State: 24,300.00, Out of State: 24,300.00

Number of students enrolled in 2007: 185

Where do most of the students go upon graduating or leaving the program?
Continue Education: 20% | Enter Workforce: 60% | Do not know: 20%

For the students that enter the workforce, what are the most common occupations that they pursue with this degree or certificate? university/college faculty, K-12 teaching, government agencies, private sector industry (environmental consulting firms, oil companies)

Description of Facilities: Research and Laboratory Facilities The School’s basic and applied research interests have grown to encompass virtually all of the marine-related sciences in all oceans: marine and atmospheric chemistry, marine geology and geophysics, ocean acoustics, ocean engineering, applied marine physics, physical oceanography, satellite oceanography, meteorology, marine biology and fisheries, biochemistry, marine biomedicine, marine biotechnology, and marine affairs and management. The Rosenstiel School is now one of the five largest oceanographic facilities in the United States and boasts one of the broadest research agendas in the global oceanographic community. The Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor Laboratory complex houses modern scientific instruments for radiation detection, optical spectroscopy atomic absorption, electron microscopy, chromatography, and spectrometry. Also located here is the Marine Invertebrate Museum, an internationally recognized research facility for Atlantic tropical marine invertebrates. The collections, which have few rivals as to number, geographic and vertical range of Atlantic tropical species, are of exceptional value as research,teaching, reference and data resources because of their comprehensive nature and the fact that the major portion of the material has been and continues to be identified by leading specialists from around the world. The collections consist of ca 60,000 lots (comprising approx 900,000 specimens; 23 phyla), of which at present 36,000 lots are cataloged and identified to species, and ca 24,000 uncataloged and identified to order or family. The collections include the invertebrates taken during the 1963-71, National Geographic Society/NSF funded Deep-sea Biology Program and the subsequent 1972-76, NSF funded expeditions, during which the pelagic and benthic communities from the abyssal to the epipelagic and inner shelf zones were sampled at 1,309 stations from the Gulf of Panama, and throughout the Caribbean to the Gulf of Guinea and at 2,062 stations over the entire extents of the Straits of Florida, the Bahamas, including its deep basins and the deep waters to the east of the Bahamas, and the area northward to the Bermudas. Additionally the museum contains the Florida reef collections made during the 1961- 63, NGS-supported reef ecology study and the 1980-81, NOAA baseline surveys of the flora and fauna of the Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and National Marine Sanctuary. Among the many other collections in the museum are those from the St. John, Virgin Island survey, the biological survey for the Panama Interoceanic Sealevel Canal, the 1961 Argosy Expedition to the eastern tropical Pacific (Gulf of Panama to Gulf of Guayaquil),the oil pollution surveys of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico and other areas in the Caribbean, and two early sponge surveys of the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys. The large collections from the extensive surveys of the Gulf and Caribbean by US Fish and Wildlife Service vessels are well represented in our holdings, as are the tropical collections of a number of other research vessels. Recent notable acquisitions to the museum include the coral collections from Dr. Peter Glynn's 1970s reef studies in the eastern Pacific, Samoa, Guam and Oman, and the corals and other invertebrates from his ongoing reef studies in the eastern Pacific; Dr. Donald Moore's extensive micromollusc slide collection from Florida, South and Central America, the Caribbean and Bahamas; a representative collection of the amphipods of Venezuela from a recent Venezuelan marine biodiversity project; and the crustaceans, echinoderms and polychaetes taken during the 2001-2002 cruises of the R/V Bellows and R/V Suncoaster in the Straits of Florida off of the Florida Keys. As the repository for one of the most comprehensive and diverse collections of tropical Atlantic marine invertebrates and highly representative collections from the eastern tropical Pacific, coupled with the recent use of molecular techniques and interests in phylogenetics, biodiversity, biocomplexity, conservation, responsible management and sustainable use of marine resources and the search for natural marine products, the Marine Invertebrate Museum presently plays, and will increasingly play, a valuable and irreplaceable role in ongoing and future research and teaching in these fields at RSMAS, University of Miami, other US institutions, and at Caribbean, South and Central American institutions (The museum currently collaborates with marine biodiversity projects of Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Venezuela.), and others worldwide. The Alfred C. Glassell Laboratory has a new Air-Sea Interaction Salt Water Tank (ASIST) designed for studies relevant to air-sea interaction including remote sensing, turbulence, gas transfer, wave dynamics, surface chemistry, spray and aerosol generation, and interfacial thermodynamics. The 15 meter long ASIST is equipped with a wind tunnel (0-30 m/s), programmable wavemaker, water temperature control, water current control, turbulence and wave instrumentation. The unique Tritium Laboratory is equipped for the global monitoring of tritium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope important as a tracer in the environment, and Helium-3, a stable isotope produced by the decay of tritium. The Remote Sensing Laboratory is an interdisciplinary group engaged in research and graduate instruction in the techniques of satellite oceanography and their application to problems in physical, biological and chemical oceanography. Current efforts range from analysis of satellite observations to theoretical radiative transfer modeling of the earth-atmosphere system. The Ocean Prediction Experimental Laboratory uses numerical models to study the circulation of the coastal ocean (and atmosphere) plus marginal and semi-enclosed seas. The focus is on model and experimental nowcast/forecast systems with applications to oil spill trajectory calculations, sediment transport, water quality, and marine ecosystem calculations. The Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory, an extension of the School’s Division of Marine Geology and Geophysics, conducts field-oriented research and teaching, concentrating on seafloor sediments and coral reefs. The Laboratory offers a continuing program of seminars and short courses on selected topics for students, teachers and professionals from industry. The Henry L. Doherty Marine Science Center includes an auditorium, computer center, classrooms, a teaching laboratory, and dining room. The Experimental Fish Hatchery allows researchers at the School to investigate marine fish propagation and stocking techniques, with an emphasis on subtropical and tropical species, and has greatly enhanced our ability to study the early life history of fishes. The National Resource Center for Aplysia - funded by the National Institute of Health - is an example of the successful rearing and maintenance of a marine animal life through all stages of its life cycle. Each year the facility ships thousands of individuals to research institutions around the world which are used for research on the neurobiology of learning and memory. With the administration building, the Rosenstiel School has a total of 200,000 square feet of laboratory, office, classroom, and library space. Centers The Pew Institute for Ocean Science is dedicated to conducting, sponsoring, disseminating and promoting world-class scientific activity aimed at protecting the world’s oceans and the species that inhabit them. Established in October of 2003 in partnership with the University of Miami Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science, the Institute is funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and other philanthropic individuals and organizations. The Institute is headed by 2000 Pew Fellow and renowned marine scientist, Dr. Ellen Pikitch. The NIEHS Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center plays a leading role in research on natural seafood toxins (e.g., ciguatoxins, brevetoxins, etc.). The Center trains young post-doctoral colleagues in toxicology and environmental health sciences, and develops therapies and tests for marine intoxications. Marine models of human disease are under development, and alternatives to mammalian bioassays are being characterized by center scientists. The National Center for Caribbean Coral Reef Research (NCORE) works to foster greater organization and collaboration within the U.S. scientific community. Leading the efforts to better understand the processes and environmental conditions necessary for the establishment, survival and sustainable use of coral reef ecosystems, NCORE also assists in the transfer of this information to managers and the general public. The Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) is one of seven Cooperative Institutes sponsored by NOAA’s Environmental Research Laboratories, to provide academic support to NOAA’s mission. Housed in CIMAS is also the Cooperative Unit for Fisheries Education and Research, which provides a link to NOAA’s national Marine Fisheries Service. The Center for Air-Sea Interaction houses the operation of a unique Air-Sea Interaction Saltwater Tank (ASIST) for the study of air-sea interaction in fresh and saltwater over a variety of wind-water wave, salinity and temperature ranges. The Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) is a new regional satellite data collection, processing, and analysis facility for the southeastern U.S., Caribbean, Central America and the northern coast of South America. The Oceans and Human Health Center at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School, one of four such Centers in the World, brings together medical and ocean researchers to investigate how humans affect oceans and how oceans affect humans in tropical and subtropical environments. Research includes identifying sources of pollution and developing new monitoring tools, ultimately making beaches safer, and identifying the environmental conditions in which algae bloom and produce harmful toxins, and ultimately predict the blooms and protect and educate the susceptible human population. The South Florida and Caribbean Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (SFC CESU) is one of the second round of CESUs created by the federal government under the leadership of the Department of the Interior to provide assistance to managers in federal land management, environmental and research agencies. The SFC CESU, formed in 2000 and renewed in 2005, is a partnership between five federal agencies and ten other universities.

Program Faculty: A complete list of Rosenstiel faculty can be found at http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/faculty-index.html

Student Support: Students accepted to the Rosenstiel School are supported by research assistantships or fellowships (except for the Division of Marine Affairs and Policy whose students are mostly self-supported). Assistantships and fellowships typically come with a monthly living stipend and tuition scholarship.

Program Point of Contact: Otis B. Brown

Email: obrown@rsmas.miami.edu

Department: Dean

Institution address: 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway
                             Miami, 33149-1098

Phone: 305-421-4155