Faculty advice for new undergrads
Following a successful Marine Biology 2023 Launch Event, held on 9 October with almost 100 first term Marine Biology majors in attendance, we asked our faculty to answer some of the more popular questions. Click below for some more insight from our faculty about research opportunities, future careers, and advice for those at the beginning of their studies.
What is your recommendation for students wanting to get involved with marine science research opportunities?
- Talk to faculty! Go to office hours and talk to them about your interests. Ask them about what they study and what types of opportunities might be available in their labs. – Sasha Seroy, Oceanography
- Keep an open mind. I thought parasites were gross when I first started working in a parasite ecology lab in my junior year of college. It took a while, but I eventually fell head-over-heels in love with them. Now I can’t imagine my career (even my life!) without them. If you give things a shot, you open yourself up to new paths that can be even more fun than what you initially envisioned for yourself – Chelsea Wood, SAFS
- I recommend asking instructors about their research topics, and pursue the websites of different faculty members in their department to see what kind of research different faculty do. Often faculty accept undergraduate researcher assistants in their labs without officially advertising them, so if someone’s research sounds interesting feel free to reach out to them and ask if they are interested in having an undergraduate conduct research in their lab. You can also ask your TAs in your classes about their research and see if they are interested in having an undergraduate work with them on their research as well – Randie Bundy, Oceanography
- Ask around and be open minded about what types of experiences you’re keen to get. I asked a professor what he worked on and he said “fish”, and my initial thought was “huh…weird” and walked away. Then I came back a week later and asked “well, what about fish?” and he told me that he tried to understand how fish move and how that explains all of the different fish shapes. That sounded cool so I volunteered to do real grunt work – feeding live worms to lake sturgeon and weighing sturgeon growth. From then on, I’ve been a fish nerd – Tim Essington, SAFS
- It’s never too late or too early to get involved in research and it’s usually not expected for students to have previous lab or research experience. If you know what you want to do and/or who you want to work with, send the faculty or graduate student a personalized email or knock on their office door. Explain who you are, why you are reaching out, reference their research that excites you, and ask for a short informational interview or tour of their lab. If they aren’t hiring, ask if they know of a lab with an opening. And, be persistent. It’s worth checking back in another quarter if you still want to get involved in a project with a specific faculty member. Don’t know what you want to do? Attend office hours, ask about the research of the faculty or graduate instructor. Share who you are and that you’re interested in getting research experience. Ask what they’d recommend you do or if they know of a lab with an opening. Check out the faculty profiles, read the description of what their lab does and send an email asking to visit their lab – Mikelle Nuwer, Oceanography
What do you see as potential careers for students graduating with a Marine Biology degree?
- It’s a launch pad for careers – some might pursue science based careers, others might be engaged in policy, others in teaching, and others in advocacy – Tim Essington, SAFS
- There are a wide range of jobs that are available to students with a marine biology degree, because you have a lot of transferable skills to many different careers. When you graduate you will know how to read and understand research papers, you will have learned how to code and analyze data, and you will know a great deal of earth science and even climate science. All of this is in addition to knowing a lot about marine biology. Some students might decide to go to graduate school, others might want to work for environmental consulting companies which rely on students having a good understanding of environmental science and good writing skills. Some students have gone on to work on data science, or in non-profits that either study or protect marine organisms or are interested in determining policies around ocean science – Randie Bundy, Oceanography
- I’ve seen our students go on to do all kinds of amazing stuff. One is now enforcing wildlife regulations with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Some work for federal agencies like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Geological Survey, or state agencies like WDFW or the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Many go on to environmental education, at places like the Seattle Aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, or natural history museums. Lots go on to grad school in all kinds of fields, including marine policy, public health, ecology, systematics, oceanography, and natural resource management – Chelsea Wood, SAFS
- Recent graduates in Oceanography are working for city, state and federal agencies and environmental consulting firms, ocean engineering companies, nonprofits, and in the tech and pharmaceutical sectors. Our graduates are lab and field technicians, data analysts, marine technicians and program managers – Mikelle Nuwer, Oceanography
- As a Marine Biology major I think you develop lots of transferable skills that could be applied to jobs as lab or field technicians and researchers to science communicators and educators to positions in policy and management – Sasha Seroy, Oceanography
What is something you wish you had known about pursuing marine sciences when you were in undergrad?
- Follow your heart. Your choices shouldn’t be governed by what you think you should do, or what you thought you’d be doing when you first laid out your plan, or what other people think you should do. Pay attention to the things that make you curious, excited, awe-struck, and then chase those things down. Don’t be afraid to diverge from your plan, or from other people’s plans for you – don’t be afraid to change – Chelsea Wood, SAFS
- I wish I had taken advantage of more opportunities as a student. I wish I had visited a field station in the Bahamas or traveled abroad for a quarter. I wish I had taken a programming class and enrolled in more 400-level courses that sounded interesting (instead of taking classes I heard were easy) – Mikelle Nuwer, Oceanography
- I didn’t even know that field ecology was a thing until I was a Senior. My eyes lit up the first time I saw a slide showing someone collecting samples in the field. I remember thinking “wait… you can get paid to do THAT?” – Tim Essington, SAFS
- I wish I had been been aware of all the different career paths in marine science and that there are opportunities for people with all kinds of interests and experiences. Every marine scientist doesn’t have to be a SCUBA diver. Also, take more math and programming than you think you need – Sasha Seroy, Oceanography
- I wish I knew that there are so many different ways to study marine science. It is such an interdisciplinary field, that you can really choose any area of expertise and then focus on that in the marine sciences. For example, you might be interested in developing technology, so you could work to develop sensors that monitor marine species or measure oceanographic properties. You could be very interested in coding, and you could focus on doing detailed bioinformatics or data analysis. You could be interested in science communication and decide to focus on communicating ocean science to the general public. All of these are open to you and more, and it is worth exploring your niche and passions – Randie Bundy, Oceanography
Joe Kobayashi