Degree Opportunities

Marine Science & Technology Degree Options:

Program Overview
The UMass Dartmouth School for Marine Science and Technology, SMAST, is an exceptional place to earn an advanced degree in marine sciences, through either the Department of Fisheries Oceanography or the Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences. SMAST is part of the system-wide University of Massachusetts Intercampus Marine Science Program, offering the MS and PhD degrees.

SMAST engages in graduate education and research in:

• ocean sciences and technology
• fisheries sciences
• marine resource economics and policy

The approach is to combine curiosity-driven and societal-need-driven research and learning into an interdisciplinary environment that integrates observation, modeling, experimentation, and theory.


Faculty Research
SMAST faculty pursue leading-edge research in

• biogeochemical cycling
• coastal ecosystem dynamics and restoration
• computational modeling
• fisheries science
• ocean observing/remote sensing
• ocean physics
• renewable energy

SMAST brings in nearly half of UMass Dartmouth research grants and sponsored awards, a figure approaching $10 million annually in recent years.

Student Achievements
The achievements of SMAST students include the

• Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship
• NOAA Sea Grant Fellowship in Population Dynamics
• Nancy Sayles Day Foundation Research Award

and Best Research Paper awards from the

• International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
• American Meteorological Society
• National Shellfisheries Association
• International Pectinid Workshop
• American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists
• American Fisheries Society

Alumni
Alumni of UMass Dartmouth’s Marine Science programs are prepared for employment opportunities in private and governmental sectors and academia. Many become researchers and scholars who contribute not only to research, but also to the application of that research to resource management and economic development issues.