Boring placeholder
Marine & Coastal Science

Where the coast is the classroom

Fieldwork from the first semester, on a shoreline that changes every tide.

Study here

Programs built around the water

Forty-two programs across four schools, every one of them within 
a mile of open water.

All 12 programs
Coastal geoscience hero — eroding cliff face survey — Program imagery, oceanography/geoscience cluster.
MS

Marine Resource Management

A professional master's in managing fisheries and other marine resources, built on the assessment science and the economics together.

  • 2 years
  • Graduate
Starts Fall
Coastal engineering hero — sea wall inspection at low tide — Program imagery, coastal engineering cluster.
MS / Certificate

Coastal Resilience

A professional master's for people who will make decisions about a shoreline that is moving. Taught jointly by the policy and ocean science departments.

  • 2 years
  • Graduate
Starts Fall, Spring
Boardwalk toward the field station, wide — Landing page imagery, coastal hero.
BS

Environmental Science

The applied environmental degree, built around estuaries, water quality and the coast. It is the most interdisciplinary program we run.

  • 4 years
  • Undergraduate
Starts Fall, Spring

4,180+

Undergraduates

18:1

Student to faculty ratio

94%

In work or study within a year Class of 2025

4

Research vessels

Institutional Research, fall 2026 census.

Award handshake on stage — News imagery, honours and prizes.
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences · 28 July 2026

R/V Cascadia Strait returns from six-week Arctic cruise

Six weeks, two mooring recoveries and one redeployment. The recovered instruments hold a full year of measurements from a site that cannot be visited in winter.

  • Oliver Brandt
New campus building milestone — News imagery, campus development.
Department of Marine Engineering · 24 June 2026

Engineering team places in an autonomous vehicle competition

The student competition team finished third at a regional autonomous underwater vehicle event, in the first year they had a basin to test in.

  • Dr. Samuel Hartley
Department of Marine Engineering
Campus green, students gathered — Landing page imagery, campus life hero.
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences · 11 June 2026

Autonomous glider completes an unattended shelf crossing

A glider flew repeat sections across the shelf break for eleven days without intervention and returned a complete record, including two exchange events.

  • Dr. Elena Reyes
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences Department of Marine Engineering
Lab team celebrating a result — News imagery, research milestone.
Department of Life Sciences · 2 June 2026

First cohort graduates from MS Marine Mammal Science

The graduate program in marine mammal science has produced its first graduates. All five have positions in assessment, consulting or doctoral study.

  • Dr. Marcus Obi
Department of Life Sciences
What's on

Upcoming events

Full Calendar

Seminar

Marine Mammal Science Seminar Series

  • 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm

A monthly research seminar during term, open to anyone. Speakers are drawn from the department, the region and occasionally further.

Public lecture

Public Lecture: What We Still Do Not Know About the Deep Ocean

  • 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

An evening lecture for a general audience on how much of the deep ocean remains unmeasured, and what that means for everything built on top of the assumption that it does not.

Open day

Fall Open Day

  • 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

A full day on campus for prospective undergraduates and their families. Program talks, laboratory and vessel tours, and time with the faculty who teach the courses.

Register for the open day
Where the work happens

Field stations and the fleet

Award handshake on stage — News imagery, honours and prizes.
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences · 28 July 2026

R/V Cascadia Strait returns from six-week Arctic cruise

Six weeks, two mooring recoveries and one redeployment. The recovered instruments hold a full year of measurements from a site that cannot be visited in winter.

  • Oliver Brandt
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences
New campus building milestone — News imagery, campus development.
Department of Marine Engineering · 24 June 2026

Engineering team places in an autonomous vehicle competition

The student competition team finished third at a regional autonomous underwater vehicle event, in the first year they had a basin to test in.

  • Dr. Samuel Hartley
Department of Marine Engineering
Campus green, students gathered — Landing page imagery, campus life hero.
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences · 11 June 2026

Autonomous glider completes an unattended shelf crossing

A glider flew repeat sections across the shelf break for eleven days without intervention and returned a complete record, including two exchange events.

  • Dr. Elena Reyes
Department of Ocean and Earth Sciences Department of Marine Engineering