Marine Biology

Coordinator: Dr. Frances Wilkerson

The M.S. in Biology with a concentration in Marine Biology is designed to offer students a broad exposure to the major marine groups and nearshore habitats and experience with the research methodologies to study them. The faculty offer course work and active research programs in the ecology and ecological physiology of marine invertebrates, the systematics and ecology of marine fishes, the ecology and behavior of marine mammals, the biology of the algae and salt marsh flora, and estuarine ecology. The program takes advantage of the unique environmental setting of the San Francisco Bay area. The Bay offers a vast urban-estuarine habitat for study, and the outer coastal areas, within reasonable driving range, offer sandy beaches, rocky intertidal reefs, kelp forests, man-made bays, and estuarine and salt marsh habitats. The College of Science and Engineering operates the Paul F. Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies on San Francisco Bay. This research station includes a 30,000 square foot laboratory and office complex, vessels for bay research, and facilities for the culture and maintenance of marine plants and animals. Resident scientists are conducting research in estuarine ecology, toxicology, marine microbiology, and wetland restoration and ecology.

Students enrolled in marine biology at SFSU may also take courses and conduct research at the Romberg Tiburon Center, and at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, located on Monterey Bay. Many of our students have also worked closely with staff scientists at nearby research institutions including the California Academy of Sciences, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Students completing the marine biology program have been successful in obtaining marine-oriented positions with state and federal agencies and private environmental consulting firms. Many of our graduates enter the teaching profession, while about one quarter continue on to competitive Ph.D. programs in the marine sciences.

Upper division course prerequisites (17-25 units), in addition to core prerequisites, include:

An upper division course in organismal physiology with laboratory
An upper division course in ecology
Electives that indicate preparation for graduate study in marine biology

(Suitable upper division electives include selections of courses in cell biology and/or microbiology, additional statistics or calculus, limnology, oceanography, ichthyology, marine invertebrate zoology, estuarine and wetland ecology, and evolution.)

Faculty: Katharyn Boyer, Sarah Cohen, Karen Crow-Sanchez, Jonathon Stillman,

Affiliate Faculty:
— Romberg Tiburon Center Research Faculty: William Cochlan, Richard Dugdale, Wim Kimmerer, Frances Wilkerson.

— Cal Academy Research Faculty: Terry Gosliner, John McCosker, Richard Mooi, Peter Roopnarine, Robert Van Syoc, Gary Williams.

Note: Moss Landing Marine Lab offers a M.S. in Marine Science. This is not the same as the M.S. in Biology, Concentration in Marine Biology offered by the Biology Department at the San Francisco State campus. For further information on these two different degrees, please contact the appropriate advisor at either campus.

SFSU Graduate Programs: