/School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
Marine Conservation and Policy Program

Marine Conservation and Policy Curriculum

The MA degree in MCP requires a total of 30 graduate credits.  Students must complete 24 graduate credits in the areas of Marine Sciences, Conservation, Communications, Policy/Law//Management, Quantitative Assessment, and Field Studies. In addition, students must complete 6 credits of either Capstone Project or Internship, depending on their area of interest. Explore our interdisciplinary coursework and core learning objectives designed to equip future leaders in marine conservation, ocean policy, and environmental advocacy.

Learning Objectives

 Goal #1: Students will be able to apply existing and novel research results to develop, evaluate, or enact practical
resolutions for a contemporary marine conservation or policy issue.

Goal #2: Students will be able to critically evaluate the literature in marine conservation and policy and demonstrate a broad knowledge of contemporary marine conservation and policy issues.

Goal #3: Students will be able to assemble and effectively communicate, in formats appropriate for an academic audience, the global context and methods of approach for a proposed research or conservation effort.

 

Courses

The following course listings reflect what has been taught in recent years and may change by semester.

For a list of course offerings and descriptions can be found in the Graduate Catalog.

A. Marine Sciences – 2 courses. One course in a basic biological field plus any other MAR course (MAR 500:699).

Biological Field Electives

  • MAR 502 - Biological Oceanography
  • MAR 508 - Found Mar Sci 1:Biogeochemical 
  • MAR 511 - Benthic Ecology 
  • MAR 515 - Phytoplankton Ecology 
  • MAR 523 - Marine Mammal Biology and Conservation 
  • MAR 540 - Marine Microbial Ecology 
  • MAR 550 - Topics in Marine Sciences 
  • MAR 553 - Fishery Management 
  • MAR 554 - Aquatic Animal Diseases 
  • MAR 561 - Quantitative Fisheries Ecology 
  • MAR 578 - Bio & Conservation/Seabirds 
  • MAR 600 - Fisheries Stock Assessment 

B. Conservation – 2 courses

  • MAR 507: Marine Conservation Biology (required)

And any one of:

  • MAR 512: Marine Pollution
  • MAR 523 Marine Mammal Biology and Conservation
  • MAR 554: Aquatic Animal Diseases
  • MAR 578: Biology and Conservation of Seabirds

C. Communications – 2 courses

  • MAR 557: Case Study and Project Planning Seminar (required)

And any one of:

  • COM 522 - Communicating Science to Policy Makers
  • COM 550 - Climate Communication 
  • COM 565 - Foundations of Science Communication 
  • COM 605 - Environmental Communication 
  • MAR 556 - Conservation’s 3 Rs: Reading, Writing, Raising Money

D. Policy/Law/Management – 1 course

  • MAR 514: Environmental Management
  • MAR 536: Environmental Law and Regulation
  • MAR 553: Fisheries Management
  • MAR 600: Fisheries Stock Assessment
  • SUS 506 - Coastal Housing Resilience
  • SUS 548 - Urban Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation 

 E. Quantitative Assessment – 1 course

  • MAR 504 Statistics and Experimental Design
  • MAR 558: Remote Sensing
  • MAR 561: Quantitative Fisheries Ecology
  • MAR 569: Statistics with R
  • MAR 587: GIS: Display and Analysis of Environmental Data
  • GSS 513: GIS Fundamentals I
  • GSS 525: GIS Fundamentals II
  • GSS 555: GIS and Remote SensingSoMAS student scuba diving in the open ocean

 

F. Field Biology – 1 Course

  •  
  • MAR 531: Long Island Marine Habitats
  • MAR 532: Marine Protected Areas
  • MAR 537: Tropical Marine Ecology

G. Project or Internship – 6 credits

  • MAR 589: Capstone Project in Marine Conservation and Policy

or

  • MAR 592: Internship in Marine Conservation and Policy

 

Total Credits  ≥ 30