New Programs
Page 1
Beginning in Fall 2006,SEA SEMESTER will be expanded with three new specialized programs to match the needs and interests of a broader range of students…
The New SEA Semesters: Programs Geared to Specialized Student Interests
Retracing the steps of Herman Melville, students are guided by local Marquesans in a tour of Nuku Hiva.
For the past 35 years, Sea Education Association has offered undergraduate students SEA Semester, a program with a unique promise – an interdisciplinary understanding of the world’s oceans gained on an extended deep-sea cruise aboard a research vessel under sail.
Over the last few years, SEA’s faculty and administration, and their counterparts at colleges and universities, have noted the increasingly varied interests that today’s students are bringing to SEA Semester. Faculty members have responded by continuing to develop the content of SEA Semester and innovate within the established tradition. The result is that, beginning in Fall 2006, SEA Semester will be expanded with three new specialized programs to match the needs and interests of a broader range of students and the requirements of their academic programs.
The structure of a classic SEA Semester remains unchanged – six weeks of shore component on SEA’s campus in Woods Hole, followed by a six-week sea component on board the SSV Corwith Cramer or the SSV Robert C. Seamans. SEA Semester continues to be open to students from all academic areas but with its traditional emphasis on the science of oceanography. An eight-week version of the program, tailored to students who cannot spend an academic semester away from campus continues to be available every summer.
Described as a major step forward, these three new specialized programs are designed to attract a broader range of students. In making the announcement, Dean Paul Joyce said, “We are very excited about these important curriculum innovations. Our faculty has devoted itself to designing these new semesters to align more clearly with the homeinstitution academic programs of students with varied majors.”
SEA Semester: Oceans and Climate
Drs. Jan Witting and Kara Lavender, members of the Oceanography faculty at SEA, began discussing a SEA Semester program that would attract undergraduate science students over a year ago. Designed for advanced science students who want to understand the dynamics between ocean processes and climate change, this course examines the role of the oceans, and the eastern tropical Pacific, in particular, on the global carbon budget and consequently, the Earth’s climate. Vertical transport pathways of both organic and inorganic carbon will be addressed, with their biological impacts. A major component of the course will be the development of an original research project with each student working independently on data analysis and interpretation, writing a final research paper and preparing an oral presentation comparable in scope to an undergraduate senior research thesis.
L-R: Drs. Kara Lavender and Jan Witting.
Armed with generous funding from The Horner Education Fund, Witting and Lavender developed this one-of-a-kind program with a cruise track that includes an equatorial crossing in the eastern Pacific, guest lecturers who are recognized experts in their field and the addition of specialized research equipment on the vessel. Students will board the vessel in Puerto Vallarta, traveling to Tahiti with a port stop in the Marquesas Islands.
Confirmed, as guest lecturers for the first course offering, are Dr. Scott Doney, a Senior Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Dr. Debbie Steinberg, Associate Professor of Marine Science at Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William and Mary College. A third guest lecturer will be named in the near future.
A very young eel-like fish.
Fall 2006 Courses: Oceans and Climate
Oceans and Climate: Oceans in the Global Carbon Cycle (4 credits) Focusing on the role of the tropical Pacific in the global carbon cycle budget and the earth’s climate. Visiting scientists give three-day seminars throughout the course, and students design an oceanographic research project to be carried out at sea.
Ocean Science and Public Policy (3 credits) The humanities, social sciences and public policy course in this oceanography semester focuses on policy issues that have direct ties to the semester theme and to the visiting faculty’s contributions. Led by SEA Maritime Studies faculty, this course incorporates additional guest lectures that spark discussions and culminate in students’ written analysis of these topics.
Nautical Science: Seamanship for Oceanographers (3 credits) Nautical science teaches the practical skills and theoretical background necessary to safely operate a tall ship on the high seas. In lectures, lab sessions, field trips and student projects, SEA’s captains introduce the principles fundamental to sailing-vessel operations. Students learn and apply essential concepts in general physics, astronomy and meteorology.
Oceanographic Research (3 credits) The modern laboratories on board our vessels have broad capabilities, ranging from acoustic measurements of water flow to epifluorescence microscopy for the study of nanoplankton particles. This course introduces students to the sensor technology behind the instruments, helps them develop practical skills in instrument deployments and analytical techniques and teaches them how to use software tools to manage and visualize large, complex data sets.
Oceanography Research in Oceans and Climate (4 credits) Students carry out novel oceanographic research under close faculty guidance. The final research paper will be comparable in scope to an undergraduate senior research thesis.