Program Overview

A graduate department of the University of California at San Diego, Scripps is one of the oldest and largest centers for global science research and graduate training in the world. More than 300 research programs are now conducted at Scripps, aimed at gaining comprehensive understanding of the oceans, atmosphere and structure of the Earth. In 1995, the National Research Council ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide.

Oceanography, by its very nature, is multidisciplinary. It spans many sciences including physics, chemistry, geology, biology, meteorology, climatology and paleontology. Scripps scientists, noted for the diversity of their research and the breadth of training this affords their students, have helped pioneer exploration of the world's marine environments. They are leaders in studies of climate change, plate tectonics, ocean circulation, marine biology and ecology, marine pharmaceuticals, seafloor mapping, siesmology, coastal processes, the El Nio phenomenon, and atmospheric sciences.

Graduate students play an integral role in the primary missions of Scripps, teaching and research. Scripps offers excellent graduate instruction and graduate students perform or assist with a significant part of Scripps research. The stature of the institution is manifested both in the quality of students it attracts to the programs and in the quality of scientists it graduates. If a transect were drawn from the earth's core through the oceans to the edge of space, Scripps students could be shown to study the processes and interactions of all the basic systems found along its path.

The graduate department of Scripps Institution of Oceanography offers instruction leading to Ph.D. degrees in Oceanography, Marine Biology, and Earth Sciences. 

A graduate student's work normally will be concentrated in one of several curricular programs: Applied Ocean Science, Biological Oceanography, Climate Sciences, Geological Sciences, Geophysics, Marine Biology, Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, and Physical Oceanography. The interdisciplinary nature of research in marine and earth sciences is emphasized; students are encouraged to take courses from various UCSD departments, and to consider interdisciplinary research projects.