Marine/Coastal GIS | Career Resources

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Career profile: Ben Walternberger
Career profile: Dawn Wright (including marine GIS)
Career profile: Peter Etnoyer (including marine biology)
Example Marine GIS Internship
GIS and Marine Biology (NOAA Fisheries)
MarineCareers.net: Janet | Dawn
Marine Science at OSU (see other portions of this site as well)
NOAA Marine GIS Overview (by Robert Aguirre)
Professional Training and Development (NOAA Coastal Services Center)
USGS Resources (requires self-study and skillful searching)
OceanExpert (UNESCO IODE Directory of Marine & Freshwater Professionals)

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General Advice from "the Captain"...
For students interested in a career in marine GIS, I would suggest taking as many marine science courses as you can, in addition to all of the GIS courses. Many marine GIS practioners actually have degrees in oceanography at the M.S. or Ph.D. level. A satellite remote sensing of the oceans course would be great as well, in addition to the general oceanography courses. A computer science class would not hurt either, especially one that focuses on GIS scripting (e.g., see CS 195, CS for Geospatial Technologies at the U. of Vermont).

Also, attending relevant conferences is always a great way to learn and get connections. Some of the major ones that feature marine GIS are the ESRI User Conference in San Diego, Coastal GeoTools, every other year in Charleston, SC (sponsored by the NOAA Coastal Services Center), the Society for Conservation GIS annual meeting (with its marine tracks therein), and many more. All of these can be found by searching this site or using Google.

Jobs are everywhere - hard to pinpoint exactly, but a typical example of the kinds of positions that seem to be out there can be found at the SAIC careers site. Enter "GIS" in the "Keyword" search field, and choose "ENV-Environment" under "Job Category."

At the graduate level there is a lot of marine GIS activity at Oregon State via our Marine Resource Management Program and our Geosciences Department (see also OSU's Marine Science Portal), as well as at Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment, with Professor Patrick Halpin. In addition, other places in the U.S. and Canada that offer marine GIS/geomatics courses or research foci include Cal State- Monterey Bay, University of Alaska, the University of Victoria in British Columbia, the Memorial University of Newfoundland (Professors Rodolphe Devillers and Thierry Schmitt) and the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. See also Labs, Centers, Institutes.

Advice for prospective graduate students.

You might also be interested in the GEBCO Postgraduate Certificate Program in Ocean Bathymetry at the University of New Hampshire.