Study Abroad with SEA Semester | Sea Education Association

Sea Education Association (SEA) is a leading non-profit, independent educational institution focused on environmental studies and the world’s oceans.

Founded 45 years ago (in 1971)
Based in the oceanographic research community of Woods Hole, Massachusetts on Cape Cod
One of six scientific research institutions in this vicinity
Full-time faculty in oceanography, history, anthropology, public policy, and nautical science
Dedicated to educating the next generation of ocean scholars, stewards, and leaders

SEA Semester is our flagship academic study abroad program.

Transferable course credit through Boston University, our longstanding school of record
Open to U.S. and international undergraduates of all majors
Variety of semester and summer programs, each addressing a unique ocean-related theme
Global destinations including the Caribbean, Europe, New Zealand, and Polynesia
Nearly 8,000 alumni, spanning many career fields
Field-based research by faculty and students across numerous disciplines.
Two U.S.-flagged tall ship sailing research vessels: the SSV Corwith Cramer in the Atlantic Ocean and the SSV Robert C. Seamans in the Pacific Ocean.

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SEA in the News

Below are highlights from recent news articles featuring SEA Semester. To view more, click here.

SEA senior steward Ger Tysk profiled in The Maritime Executive

SEA in the News
Air Force Veteran Inspired by Moby-Dick
The Maritime Executive

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas…” ? Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

In 2014, Ger Tysk of Houston, Texas, was recently out of the U.S. Air Force and ready to take on a new career. An avid reader, she picked up a copy of Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by the American writer Herman Melville. This story of a notoriously elusive white whale that sinks the whaling ship, Pequod, pivoted Tysk’s imagination towards a career at sea. Tysk was glued to the pages, yearning to see whales and wildlife while sailing the open ocean.

SUNY ESF student sails with SEA Semester to study coral reefs

SEA Semester in the News
ESF Student Participates in SEA Semester Program
Aquatic and fisheries science major sets sail in Lesser Antilles
ESF For Earth (SUNY ESF College of Environment Science & Forestry website)

This past fall, Maria Alfaro, a senior at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), sailed on an ocean research vessel to study human impact on Caribbean coral reef ecosystems.

Plastics research co-authored by Dr. Kara Lavender Law is “2018 Statistic of the Year”

SEA in the News
Year’s scariest statistic: 90.5% of plastic not recycled
CBS News

Britain’s Royal Statistical Society has selected an eye-opening statistic on the proportion of plastic that is never recycled as its “statistic of the year.” The stat - 90.5 percent - comes from a global analysis of plastics co-authored last year by Dr. Roland Geyer, University of California, Santa Barbara, Dr. Jenna Jambeck, University of Georgia, and our own Dr. Kara Lavender Law, Research Professor of Oceanography at Sea Education Association.

Mount Holyoke students sail with The Global Ocean, New Zealand

SEA Semester in the News
Taking the classroom to the sea
Sasha Nyary
Mount Holyoke News

The experiences of two SEA Semester students from Mount Holyoke, Sal Cosmedy and Mia Sigler, currently sailing aboard the SSV Robert C. Seamans with class S-283, The Global Ocean, New Zealand, are described in an article on the college website.

About SEA

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