Location, location, location.

The real estate agents’ mantra may also explain the next undergraduate major to be added to the curriculum at Cal State Monterey Bay.

It is location that attracted Elyssa Farmer, a freshman from Pacifica.

“As a 10-year-old, I fell in love with the Monterey Bay Aquarium and wanted to become a marine biologist just like the ones at the aquarium,” she said. When it came time to choose a college, she decided on CSUMB because “it’s located next to one of the richest marine regions in the world. Because of that, I figured it would be sensible to study it here.”

As faculty member Bill Head, a professor in the Division of Science and Environmental Policy, points out, “When you think of Monterey Bay, you think of marine science.

“We have a more concentrated number of marine science institutions here than anywhere in the country.”

Marine science has been part of the curriculum almost since the beginning of the university, offered as a concentration called “marine and coastal ecology” within the Environmental Science, Technology and Policy degree program. Courses have been added over the years, including a scientific diving program that was introduced last spring. It filled up in a day-and-a-half.

A new degree is born

As soon as the approval process is completed, that concentration – which has by far the largest enrollment of the five available in the ESTP major – will be renamed “marine science” and elevated to a separate program, leading to a bachelor of science degree.

Elevating the popular program to degree status meets student demand for a degree with a more recognizable name and serves to make the program more visible and attractive to prospective students.

“Our job is to present students with a suite of opportunities,” said Dr. James Lindholm, the Rote Distinguished Professor of Marine Science and Policy. “It’s the Field of Dreams approach – create it and they will come.”

And it meets the needs of employers.

“Employer surveys show a demand for graduates who can address real-world, interdisciplinary problems and have good technical skills,” said Dr. Marsha Moroh, dean of the College of Science.

An important part of the program is the hands-on experience students get with advanced technologies for collecting, analyzing and communicating scientific data.

Hands-on experience

Students get that hands-on experience in the laboratory and through fieldwork, often working alongside professors on real-world research projects. Teaching and mentoring are at the heart of the experience.

“We give students training in geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and seafloor mapping,” Dr. Lindholm said.

A prolific researcher, he involves students – undergraduates as well as graduate students in the Coastal and Watershed Science and Policy program – in much of his work.

Since joining the faculty at CSUMB in 2007, Dr. Lindholm has established the Institute for Applied Marine Ecology. The goal of the institute is to understand the interaction of marine ecological systems and human activities.

Among the institute’s many projects is one surveying deep-water habitats in the newly created marine protected areas along California’s north central coast ­– from San Mateo County north to Mendocino County, using a remotely operated vehicle. The information gathered will serve as the foundation of a program to evaluate the status of fish, invertebrates and their seafloor habitats inside and outside the new MPAs.

Another project involves collecting video and photos that help to explore, describe and catalogue the resources of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

He’s also researching the recovery of seafloor habitats off Morro Bay and the Gulf of Maine following the cessation of trawling.

Ten days in an undersea laboratory

Perhaps the project with the highest visibility is Dr. Lindholm’s work with Aquarius, the world’s only underwater laboratory.

In 2008, he led a mission that studied the movement and behavior of coral reef fish off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Dr. Lindholm supported the mission from the surface, but three CSUMB graduate students spent 10 days in the lab, 60 feet below the sea surface.

He returned in October to lead Aquarius 2010: If Reefs Could Talk, a mission designed to educate the public so they can make informed decisions about how their actions impact the world’s most important resource – the ocean.

Dr. Lindholm and a graduate student lived in the laboratory, which he says is similar to the International Space Station in size and functionality. Two students worked from the surface, and two more were “ambassadors” for the program, working with Monterey County schools that showed live broadcasts from the lab.

Qualifying for the mission isn't easy. The physical requirements are similar to what potential astronauts face. All participants have to be experienced divers with research and rescue certifications.

"This is truly a remarkable opportunity for these students," Dr. Lindholm said. "What they are going to experience is extraordinary."

Students work on seafloor mapping

Other opportunities – and jobs – are available to students through the university’s Seafloor Mapping Lab.

Supported through grant and contract work, the Seafloor Mapping Lab conducts marine habitat survey work from the Arctic to the Antarctic. The lab has been instrumental in the ongoing California Seafloor Mapping Project, an effort to create the first comprehensive, high-resolution map of California's state waters – from the shoreline out three nautical miles.

The project involves industry, resource management agencies and universities. Final products will include a series of maps showing the seafloor and coastal geology in unprecedented detail.

“We know more about the surface of Mars than the three-mile strip of state waters along our coast,” Dr. Kvitek said. “If the goal is to protect and sustainably manage our marine resources, we don’t have the tools to do it without that basic map. You can see everything down to the size of a lawn chair, and you can look for changes year after year.”

Dr. Kvitek’s work has been featured on the Discovery Channel and in National Geographic magazine, among other publications.

These opportunities to do hands-on research appeal to students.

“I chose CSUMB because the fieldwork with the marine program is a big part of it, and I like working outside, with people,” said Jazmyn Julius, a freshman from Santa Maria.

Katie Wrubel can tell Jazmyn about that.

Wrubel, a 2010 graduate of the ESTP program, spent the summer working with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The 10-week program was identified by CSUMB’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center and sponsored by Oregon State University.

She’s now pursuing a Ph.D. in environmental science at Washington State University in Vancouver.

“The people I met are the best part,” Wrubel told OSU. “The marine science world is so small and it seems that everyone knows everyone, so joining that circle has opened so many doors for me.”

AT A GLANCE

Currently, more than half of the 300 Environmental Science, Technology and Policy majors at Cal State Monterey Bay and about 30 percent of the 400 biology majors are pursuing marine-related concentrations.

No other school in the 23-campus California State University system offers a B.S. in marine science. Pending approval, the degree is scheduled to be offered at CSUMB in the fall of 2012.

Marine scientists deal with a variety of issues ­– from climate change, declining fisheries and eroding coastlines to the invention of new technologies to explore the sea.

According to NOAA, there’s a huge potential for growth in the field as researchers learn more about the ocean and its interactions with the land and atmosphere, how humans affect the ocean, and the impact of ocean resources on our quality of life.