The Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation (CMBC) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) on the University of California, San Diego campus, is interested in attracting a talented, motivated and diverse group of Ph.D. students who are interested in becoming leaders with global impact on the world’s oceans.

Please pass the following along to your colleagues, friends, departmental list serves and to any interested students.  Our goal is to achieve a diversified Marine Biodiversity IGERT student body and we encourage students from underrepresented minority groups to apply.

CMBC is seeking students interested in confronting important biological and societal issues with respect to the health of the world's oceans. We have designed a new type of graduate education and training program that will produce a generation of scientists conversant in the biological, social, economic and political issues of marine conservation and equipped with technical competence in informatics and communication skills.  The goal is to train professionals who not only can identify
the problems, but who can also find practical solutions within ecological, social and economic constraints.  Please forward the following information on to your colleagues/interested students/programs.  We are reaching out to potential PhD students from the natural and social sciences, including economics, political science,
sociology, anthropology, urban studies, communication, history, business and management. Please visit us on line at: http://cmbc.ucsd.edu.

CMBC recently received an NSF-funded grant in the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) Program.  This new grant will support 26 graduate students in the fields of marine biodiversity and conservation over the next five years.  We have attached a pdf announcement of the program to this email.  Application are due January 5th, 2005 for Fall 2005 admissions.  For more information on the IGERT program please visit: http://cmbc.ucsd.edu/igert. Please note that NSF funding can only support U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

CMBC also offers a Master of Advanced Studies degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation in collaboration with University Extension at UC San Diego.  This program reaches out to mid-career professionals (a minimum of three years post baccalaureate),  practicing marine scientists, science policy analysts and advocates, and researchers, from around the world.  More information can be found at: http://oaped.ucsd.edu/cmbc/index.html.

The Office of Graduate Studies & Research (OGSR) at UC San Diego is working closely with CMBC to recruit a diverse student body.  If you have students who want to get acquainted with Scripps in their undergraduate years, summer research opportunities are available through the S.T.A.R.S. program: http://ogsr.ucsd.edu/stars and a number of other summer programs for which students may be eligible: http://sea.ucsd.edu/summer_research/.   The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also offers summer internships for undergraduates from minority serving institutions.  Please visit the Environmental Partnership Program (EPP) online at: http://epp.noaa.gov/programs/.