Marine Science Program

The Marine Science Program (MSCI) in the College of Science and Mathematics at the University of South Carolina is an interdisciplinary academic program offering curricula that lead to Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in marine science/oceanography.

The MSCI Program was founded in 1972 and is one of the premier marine science/oceanography educational programs in the nation with 40 faculty, 32 graduate students, and 140 undergraduate majors. The first B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. students graduated in 1973, and more than 1,000 students have graduated since. The listing of all graduates of the MSCI Program can be found elsewhere on this web site.

The MSCI faculty conduct research projects in biological, chemical, geological and physical oceanography in South Carolina, nationally, and internationally. They successfully compete for research funding from many federal agencies, including NSF, ONR, EPA, NASA, and NOAA as well as private foundations and international agencies.

MSCI was formed to provide a venue for students with an interest in marine science and oceanography at a time when few institutions offered these options. MSCI also provided faculty from different units, the opportunity to promote their intellectual interest in marine science through research and student supervision. MSCI has served as an intellectual bridge that promotes interdisciplinary research among biologists, geologists, physical oceanographers, toxicologists, chemists and geographers at the university. Interdisciplinary research emphasis on open ocean, coastal ocean, and estuaries is clearly in step with the future research directions and needs for undergraduate and graduate students in preparation for employment in the 21^stcentury.

Marine Science/oceanography is by definition an interdisciplinary scientific field of study, incorporating more or less equal elements of biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physics, and marine affairs to increase our knowledge of oceans, coastal seas, and estuaries. The Marine Science Program at the University of South Carolina is one of only a few programs in the nation providing marine/ocean degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The MSCI undergraduate program has been acknowledged as one of the outstanding programs of its kind, ranking 4^th of 91 in marine biology and 7th in marine sciences (The Gourman Report, Eighth Edition, 1993; National Education Standards). MSCI recently increased its ranking to 5th in Marine Science (The Gourman Report: A Rating of Undergraduate Programs in American and International Universities, National Education Standards, Ninth Edition Revised, 1996 and Tenth Edition Revised 1998). The Marine Science Program has also been hi-lighted as one of ten “cathedrals of excellence” at the University of South Carolina that rank among the nation’s best by USC President (1991-2002) John M. Palms.

The primary goals of the Marine Science Program (MSCI) are to provide an excellent education and an interdisciplinary curriculum, emphasizing theoretical concepts of how ocean processes function, critical research thinking, research-based learning, and hands-on technical and field training at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Students develop skills which allow them to pursue careers in industry, government, and academic settings. MSCI also offers a number of non-major service courses for all students at USC, seminar and topics courses for the South Carolina Honors College, and field-oriented, research-based learning courses taught at off-campus facilities the Caribbean and at the Baruch Marine Field Laboratory (BMFL) in Georgetown, SC.