SEA hires Assistant Scientists on a rolling schedule. We welcome inquires at any time. If you are interested in an Assistant Scientist position aboard the vessels, please send a cover letter and resume to Juliana Miller (AdminSciCo@sea.edu) throughout the year. Once we receive your cover letter and resume we will send you further application instructions and forms if you meet our requirements.
Ideal candidates for our Assistant Scientist positions have a Master's degree in marine science, experience teaching at the college level, and experience working on oceanographic research vessels. Such candidates are not always available to us, so we will sometimes consider other candidates with the minimum qualifications of a Bachelor's degree in science, some background in marine science, some teaching or supervisory experience, and some experience working or sailing on boats. Priority is often given to those candidates who are able to participate in up to three cruises per year for a year or more, however it is occasionally necessary to hire Assistant Scientists on a cruise-by-cruise basis. We try to fill positions at least four months in advance, but openings sometimes occur on short notice. The work is demanding, but exciting and rewarding for those who enjoy teaching and life at sea. It is also an excellent opportunity to learn the basic theory and sampling techniques of all the major disciplines in oceanography, something which is difficult to achieve in most specialized graduate level oceanography programs.
Trips are grouped together to create contracts that work for both the programmatic needs of the vessels and their crew. All scientists start with a short term contract which is typically a 2-3 month period on board the vessels. After that scientists can opt to work either a long term (with the OK of the Assistant Scientist Coordinator) or to continue with short term contracts. Crew members on a long term contract work at least 180 days (not continuous) in a 12 month time period, making them eligible for health and dental benefits. We like to be crewed out about 6-8 months in advance.
We are fortunate that SEA attracts such skilled, enthusiastic, and dynamic scientists and we strive to retain them. To that end, we will continue to review and improve our scientist compensation and benefits package, hiring procedures, professional development opportunities, and work environment.