About the School of Oceanography

The School of Oceanography fosters continued advancement of the ocean sciences, solutions to problems of societal relevance, and public awareness of the marine environment. It is at the forefront of creating knowledge and understanding about the ocean through observation, theory, modeling and technological innovation. The School focuses on learning and discovery, equipping students with knowledge and insights, scholarly methods, scientific tools and communication skills.

 

We offer degrees of: Bachelor of Science (BS), Master of Science (MS), and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

 

Our Director is Dr. Virginia Armbrust, Professor of Biological Oceanography.

 

There are currently 60 faculty. An additional 37 affiliate faculty, mainly drawn from the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, are also active in graduate advising.

 

The School offers outstanding educational opportunities. Seventy-four graduate students are in residence working within four areas of specialization (biological, chemical, physical, and marine geology and geophysics) and on a variety of interdisciplinary topics (climate change, extreme environments, and coastal systems). The School is the only leading oceanography program to offer a bachelors degree, with 95 undergraduate students enrolled for Spring 2010.