The University of Maine's School of Marine Sciences is proud to sponsor Semester by the Sea (SBS) for juniors and seniors interested in marine science. SBS is total immersion for undergraduates. Students spend a semester in residence at the Darling Marine Center taking hands-on, field-oriented courses. Our goal is to offer an educational experience that you'll always remember. Students should expect to work hard, learn a lot about marine science, and have fun.
Outstanding Faculty
SBS courses are taught by faculty who are internationally recognized experts in their fields. They can provide students with the latest knowledge and unique insights because they didn't just read the text books; they helped write them!
Excellent Facilities
The DMC is one of the leading marine research stations on the eastern seaboard of North America. Facilities include a well-equipped fleet of research vessels, flowing seawater classrooms, wet and dry laboratories, electron microscopes, marine library and dormitory/dining facilities.
Hands-On Learning
SBS courses feature numerous field trips and in-depth laboratory exercises. You'll become familiar with the geology and organisms of the rocky seashores, sand and mud beaches, sea grass beds, and kelp forests of the Gulf of Maine.
Independent Research
The DMC is the perfect venue for independent study and honors projects. Students enrolled in SBS have ready access to a myriad of marine environments as well as lab facilities and faculty mentors.
The Students' Perspective
SBS students share their experiences at http://www.umaine.edu/marine/programs/sbs1.php
Contact Information
Prerequisites
To participate in Semester by the Sea you must have at least a junior year standing, or equivalent background, with one year of biology and one year of chemistry. Upon acceptance to the SBS program, students not currently enrolled at the University of Maine will be sent additional paperwork required by the University.
To Apply
Download the SBS application (pdf) and return the completed form by March 15 to:
SBS/Undergraduate Coordinator
School of Marine Sciences
5706 Aubert Hall, Room 360
University of Maine
Orono, Maine 04469-5706
SBS Courses
- Design of Marine Organisms: Momentum, Mass and Information Transfer
- Marine Ecology
- Maritime History and Archeology of New England
- Human Impacts on the Ocean (offered in odd number years)
- Undergraduate Seminar
- Invertebrates of the Maine Coast
- Zooplankton and Ichthyoplankton in Marine Ecosystems
- Introduction to Research Diving
- Independent Study/Research
Some courses are offered every other year. Additionally, courses on special topics may be added to the offerings each fall. Please contact the School of Marine Sciences to confirm course offerings for each year.
SBS Courses Descriptions
SMS 350: Undergraduate Seminar
Instructors: Annette deCharon and Mary Jane Perry (1 credit)
We will use various methods to improve understanding of linkages among various SBS courses. Our outcomes will include products that communicate these relationships, to the School of Marine Sciences and beyond. Concept mapping will be used as a primary tool to explore how each SBS course uses fundamental ideas to "tell stories" related to marine sciences. This technique and others will be employed to help students to tell their own stories. A key event is a "behind the scenes" visit to the New England Aquarium in Boston where students will explore exhibits, link exhibits' content to concepts from SBS classes, and learn how experts deliver these messages to public audiences. A product of the seminar will be a website that synthesizes major SBS content areas and the students' overall learning experience. There will be an emphasis on team work and active participation in group discussions.
SMS 352: Marine Ecology
Instructor: Dr. Bob Steneck
(4 credits)
Marine communities and ecological interactions are studied through lectures, field trips along the rocky shore of Maine, and laboratories. Concepts of biodiversity, the food web, and the role of physical and biological limiting factors are developed. Critical and creative thinking and problem solving are enhanced by designing and conducting experiments to test hypotheses. Data analysis and report writing are emphasized.
SMS 480: Biology of Marine Invertebrates (Marine Invertebrates of the Maine Coast)
Instructor: Dr. Kevin Eckelbarger (4 credits)
Most of the biodiversity of the world is made up of small to medium-sized invertebrates that represent 97% of all the animals on the planet. About 1-2-million invertebrates have been described with an estimated 30-million remaining to be discovered. Invertebrates can be divided into approximately 35 basic body plans and they can be found in every marine habitat from the bottom muds to the overlying water and from shallow, intertidal zones to the deep sea. This course will deal with the general biology of coastal and deep water marine invertebrates of the Gulf of Maine including their functional morphology, behavior, ecology, and life histories. Students will study living specimens and will learn to recognize and identify many common species encountered in the region. They will participate in numerous field trips to various coastal habitats to collect specimens, including several trips on a research vessel to collect larvae from the plankton and adult specimens via bottom sampling. An emphasis will be placed on species diversity and body design relative to habitat type.
SMS 481: Design of Marine Organisms: Momentum, Mass and Information Transfer
Instructor: Dr. Pete Jumars
(4 credits)
Students use flumes and other flow devices to gain an understanding of the principles of momentum and mass transfer and then to discover how they influence form and function in marine organisms. Lectures prepare students to conduct their own laboratory observations of abiotic flows and model living organisms interacting with flows. A final integration adds sensory ecology and unsteady flow behaviors. Applications range from bacteria to invertebrates and vertebrates. Lecture and laboratory are combined into a day-long class period. In short, weekly writing assignments, students integrate lectures and readings with their own laboratory observations to build a solid understanding. Taught at the Darling Marine Center. Prerequisite: BIO 200 (or equivalent) and PHY 112 or PHY 122 or permission.
SMS 482: Human Impacts on the Ocean
Instructor: Dr. Larry Mayer
(3 credits)
Human Impacts on the Ocean deals with the many ways in which humans have influenced oceanic processes at local and global scales. We seek to identify changes, which means identifying human influences against a background of natural changes. Examples of areas covered include biological species introductions, nutrient enrichments, oil and other forms of pollution, and manipulation of sediments. (SMS 482 is offered in odd numbered years.)
SMS 491: Zooplankton and Ichthyoplankton in Marine Ecosystems
Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Runge
(3 credits)
This course presents the world of zooplankton, how we study it and our current understanding of zooplankton's role in marine ecosystems. Students receive training in taxonomy and identification, sampling techniques and measurement of rate processes used in determining zooplankton fluxes and population dynamics. Fundamental concepts about biodiversity, the trophic role of zooplankton, factors influencing fish recruitment, and the influence of climate change on pelagic ecosystems are examined. The course consists of a morning lecture followed by instruction in field and laboratory settings to demonstrate methods and lecture concepts. Students participate in coastal transects and learn to sample and identify local zooplankton and planktonic stages of fish. The control of phytoplankton biomass by grazing is measured by short term incubation experiments. Population dynamics is studied by observation of copepod population structure and reproductive rates. The goal is to provide students with an experience of the richness and complexity of zooplankton in their natural environment while learning methodology and critical analysis of data and concepts.
SMS 491: Introduction to Research Diving
Instructor: Chris Rigaud, Dive Safety Officer
(3 credits)
This course will provide an introduction to research diving and satisfy the 100 hours of required training for scientific divers as prescribed by the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS). This training is required to participate in scientific diving activities at most universities and at all AAUS member organizations throughout the United States.
Students will be instructed in advanced diving, dive rescue, oxygen administration, and research diving techniques. Practical field diving activities will be a large focus of the course. The course will be taught by the UMAINE Diving Safety Officer, selected UMAINE faculty, and guest lecturers experienced in using scuba diving as a research tool. Following successful completion of course objectives, students will be eligible to participate in diving research projects as a scientific diver-in-training or scientific diver. Course desrciption
INT 441 Maritime History and Archaeology of New England
Instructor: Dr. Warren Riess
(3 credits)
The sea has been a dominant influence on New Inlands history and culture for thousands of years. Students will study the history of human interaction with the sea in this region, including archaeological and historical methods used to discover this history. Field trips include work on an intertidal archaeology site and visits to interpretive exhibits at maritime museums.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SBS only available to marine science students at the University of Maine?
No. SBS is open to any student at the University of Maine, as well as students from other campuses of the University of Maine System or any other academic institution.
If your university is a member of the National Student Exchange program, you can work through your study away program and NSE to come to UM for the semester. This is the easiest route, because all of your financial aid would stay the same and stay with your home institution. The National Student Exchange program has their own website that may be helpful: http://www.nse.org.
You can enroll in classes as a non-degree student through the UM Continuing Education program. Call 207-581-3143 with the course registration numbers of the classes you want to take. Contact the SMS Undergraduate Coordinator for appropriate CRN numbers from the catalog.
Do I have to take all of the SBS courses?
No. Though my must take at least 12 credits to be a full-time student in the SBS program, the only required course of all SBS participants is the undergraduate seminar.
Can I take just one SBS courses?
Yes. It is possible to take one course provided that space is available. Priority is given to students registering for the entire SBS program.
Where will I live?
SBS students live in Darling Marine Center housing adjacent to laboratories and classrooms. Requests to live off campus will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Where is the Darling Marine Center?
The Center is 106 miles from the Orono campus. It is located on a large wooded property along the Damariscotta River Estuary in the small village of Walpole, Maine. The nearby town of Damariscotta offers shops, restaurants and a cinema.
How much will it cost?
SBS students pay the normal University of Maine tuition plus a $250 program fee. Reduction in other fees charged on campus more than offset the SBS program fee. Costs of room and board are based on those charged for double occupancy and full meal plan at the University of Maine.
What about recreation?
Outdoor recreation predominates at the Center’s rural location. Canoeing, kayaking, hiking, bicycling, picnicking, volleyball, and basketball are popular activities. The town of Damariscotta has a YMCA with fitness facilities. Portland, Maine's largest city is about an hour away.
A Semester by the Sea by Margaret Nagel
Below is the unedited version of an article which appeared in the April/May 2002 issue of UMaine Today. Reprinted with permission of the author.
To catch low tide one weekend, the University of Maine students headed to Pemaquid Point at day's end. A spectacular sunset ignited the sky as they picked their way along the rocky shore. In the twilight, they set to work collecting tiny marine animals for their invertebrate zoology class.
"That epitomizes what Semester by the Sea is all about," says UMaine senior Maryann Morin. "(It's) students on their own time doing field collections, not because someone is making us, but because we enjoy doing the fieldwork and looking at what we collect under the stereoscope for our class.
"That's the way it is at the Darling Center. Everybody loves what he or she is doing. And I can guarantee that if a professor was to tell us we never had to go to class, the seats would still be full the next day," says the marine biology major from Oakland, Maine.
Here at UMaine's Ira C. Darling Marine Center in Walpole, Maine, one of the leading marine research stations on the eastern seaboard, undergraduates are immersed in the study of ocean science through a special program called Semester by the Sea (SBS). SBS students take day long courses in a variety of marine science areas, including maritime history and archaeology (i.e. shipwrecks), marine ecology and geology, design of marine organisms and biological modeling.
Their teachers are some of the leading marine scientists in the country, and are among the more than 50 School of Marine Science researchers. The students live on campus, a stone's throw away from their learning environment and high-tech classrooms, state-of-the-art research laboratories, and the natural wonder of the Damariscotta River Estuary and the Gulf of Maine.
Only a handful of universities offer similar undergraduate opportunities to take a semester by the sea. The strength of UMaine's program is in its faculty and its setting, which offers a remarkable diversity of habitats: sandy beaches, estuaries, rocky shorelines, kelp forests and intertidal zones that are world-renowned.
"Down here it's so beautiful," says Christian Jilek of Old Town, Maine, a junior majoring in marine biology. "You can go out on a boat and see what you're learning about. Being a visual learner, that gives me a huge perspective. I've learned about the interactions organisms have with one another. I've learned how many species and phyla of organisms are off the coast of Maine. We've studied flow dynamics to understand how organisms live in their own ecosystems. I will remember most looking at organisms and realizing how great these creatures are, and how I can study and learn so much about them."
For marine science and non-marine science majors alike, Semester by the Sea is an atypical learning experience that can take a little getting used to. A class may start at 6 a.m. to take advantage of the tide. Three-hour lectures aren't unusual. Field trips inevitably involve hip boots and very cold water. Lights from the research labs burn into the night. One of the requirements by semester's end: Each student has to correctly identify 100 marine invertebrates.
But the toughest part of the experience for young students? The nearest television is a quarter-mile away, neighbors go to bed early, and the Orono campus is 106 miles away. "This is a real break from university life," says Ellie Owen, an international student from England who is majoring in ecology. "While you miss campus activities, you get a lot of work done. We chat more over meals and we all get addicted to puzzles. "I came to the University of Maine because I wanted a good marine field experience," Owen says. "I like living at a research facility. The best part is it involves so much fieldwork. Things are easier to learn when they're right in front of you."
Semester by the Sea lets undergraduates experience marine biology first-hand, as opposed to hearing about it in lectures or reading about it in books and or waiting until graduate school, says Kevin Eckelbarger, director of the Darling Center and an SBS teacher. "The SBS program gives undergrads a taste of what marine biology is really like," he says. "It is based on the premise that marine biology is best studied in the field where the organisms live.‰
Students are exposed to many sciences, such as biology, geology and oceanography, all within a marine context. Classes are small, with a great deal of one-on-one dialogue with faculty. "It is by far the most potent dose of the field they will likely experience as an undergraduate," Eckelbarger says.
At the end of the semester, it's that fieldwork that students like Keith Shadle miss most. The junior in marine biology from Indiana was so inspired by UMaine's SBS, he's headed to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts for a similar program. "(In SBS) you're doing your own species collection, gathering information and getting your own results," he says. "When you read the (published) research papers, often it's our faculty who have written them."
Two of those faculty members are Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation and Les Watling, professor of oceanography, and Bob Steneck, professor of marine sciences. Both are dedicated scientists whose marine research is recognized around the world and whose enthusiasm for teaching is contagious.
"I have tried to design my SBS course (co-taught with Eckelbarger) along the lines of the kinds of courses I had in graduate school," Watling says. "It's the integration of lecture with field and live lab work that is so different. Also, having the whole day for a course, rather than fixed blocks of time for lecture and lab, which are often on different days, allows me to be able to respond to what might be happening in the environment.
"I love teaching this way." Watling remembers one SBS trip to Reid State Park to dig on the beach for meiofauna and tiny creatures that live among the sand grains. „They are important for the students to see because of their unique morphology," he says. "It was clear from the outset that the day was going to be cool, but beautiful and sunny. So I grabbed my lecture notes and handouts, and we had class sitting on the rocks above the beach before the tide was low enough for sampling. I think everyone appreciated the spontaneity of it all."
There also are days when nature isn't quite so cooperative, Watling points out. "We have had some cold, rainy days bouncing around in a boat, with some of the students getting a little green about the gills, so its not all beautiful days at the beach," he says.
The camaraderie, spontaneity and passion come from being part of a small community of active marine scientists who live and think about the marine realm every day, Steneck says. "Students tell us that they work harder in the SBS program," he says.
"Our expectations of them are high and they meet the challenge by learning how to work more efficiently. In his classes, Steneck de-emphasizes initial reading of the scientific literature. Instead, he teaches students how to "read" the natural system and translate it into science. "They observe patterns and speculate why (those patterns) exist," he says. "We set up experiments that answer some of the questions they pose. Each week they quantify their observations, analyze their data and write a report. After they've seen the natural systems, they read primary scientific literature relevant to what they saw."
Steneck stresses problem solving and critical thinking. "This way, when they read a Classic paper on the subject they can say, Wait a minute, that's not the way I think it works." They are learning the way research scientists learn by observing phenomena first hand," he says.
Most marine researchers remember a summer course they took that turned them on to science, Steneck says. "In Semester by the Sea, we'd like to capture that sense of excitement and use it as a vehicle to teach marine science, along with the quantitative, analytical and other scholastic skills that are likely to be useful to graduates, regardless of their discipline," he says.
The hope, says Eckelbarger, is that a semester by the sea will forever change how students view a coastline. "No matter what they do for the remainder of their lives, I hope that when they walk along the seashore, they have a much deeper appreciation of the beauty and amazing complexity of the oceans and the organisms that live in them," Eckelbarger says. "I think the SBS program is a maturing experience and if students make a good effort, the discipline they learn during such an intense semester will serve them well as they face other life challenges."
