Explore Our Graduate Program
The Oregon Institute of Marine Biology offers PhD and MS degrees in biology for studies with a major focus on marine organisms and their interaction with the environment. Our graduate program is part of the Department of Biology, and all degrees are awarded through that department.
Students apply through the Department of Biology, though applications are reviewed by OIMB faculty. Acceptance into the graduate program is based on strength of the application, interest by one of the faculty in taking on a new student, and availability of financial support.
Earn a Graduate Degree in Marine Biology
At OIMB, PhD students follow the same general patterns as students on main campus with three laboratory rotations in their first year and preparation of a research proposal and oral defense in their second year. PhD students in good standing are supported for five years. MS students are required to take 24 graded credits and conduct a research thesis. The MS degree can be completed in two years.
Find a Faculty Advisor
Topics of study are based on the expertise and willingness of OIMB faculty to support a graduate student’s scientific investigation for his or her thesis. Faculty research interests include:
- Behavior
- Biological Oceanography
- Cell Biology
- Climate change
- Deep-sea Biology
- Development
- Ecology
- Evolution
- Life histories
- Marine Invertebrates
- Organismal Biology
- Larval Biology and Ecology
- Systematics and Taxonomy
Faculty who take graduate students:
Live and Work at the Oregon Coast
Typical OIMB graduate students work at the OIMB in Charleston Oregon (110 miles, 2.5 hours from Eugene) and live on campus or nearby. Student offices and research space are in the laboratories of the faculty who advise them.
Research with a field component is possible in the many different habitats near OIMB including the coastal ocean, open coast rocky intertidal (exposed and protected), subtidal benthic habitats, the extensive Coos Bay estuary including mud/sand flats and salt marshes, high energy sandy beaches and dune fields. Some students also conduct shipboard research in the deep sea.
Join the OMSA
The Oregon Marine Students Association (OMSA) is a student-fee-funded program that enhances the cultural and educational atmosphere of the OIMB campus.