Discover Our Planet Undergraduate Program
The University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science is one of the world’s premier institutions for the research and study of science and policy relating to our planet Earth.
Choose Your Own Adventure
We offer our undergraduate students an exceptional range of educational, research, and professional opportunities. Our faculty are among the world’s leading voices on climate change science, coral reef and fisheries management, remote sensing technology, hurricane modeling, and many other disciplines. Students are encouraged to work with faculty in their laboratories and are able to earn course credit by conducting independent research under the supervision of highly productive scientists. There’s no limit to what you can discover by working with these professors.
Curriculum That Can Take You Anywhere
Our undergraduate degree programs prepare you for careers in research, policy, conservation, environmental law, medicine, education, business, the media—nearly anything to which you aspire. Our rigorous curriculum is designed to take full advantage of Miami’s coastal location, with ready access to a variety of marine environments throughout the year. Students are introduced to the complexities of the oceans, earth, and atmosphere through lectures, laboratories, and field trips. Our small class sizes provide an intimate, small-college experience combined with all of the resources of a dynamic major research university and an abundance of student life activities.
Degree Options
The Rosenstiel School Undergraduate Program offers both Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree options. The degrees encompass sciences, mathematics, and liberal arts, allowing students to pursue interests in the arts, humanities, and social sciences as well as the natural sciences.
Geoscientists are caretakers of the Earth’s resources and environment. They work to understand natural processes on Earth and other planets. By applying knowledge of the physical, chemical and biological forces that shape the Earth, geoscientists seek to reconstruct the past and anticipate the future. Research at UM focuses on carbonate sedimentology of the Florida reef tract, stable isotope geochemistry and micropaleontology of deep ocean cores to reconstruct paleoclimate, tectonic processes (volcanoes and earthquakes), and the impact of rising sea level on coastal systems. Career opportunities in geosciences are excellent, including the energy and mineral exploration industries, the environmental industry, and research and education in academia. Geological Sciences
Marine Affairs
Marine Affairs prepares students to contribute to the policy development and management of coastal and marine resources through integration of scientific, economic, and social perspectives. Research at UM focuses on aquaculture, fisheries management, political ecology, natural resource economics, coastal zone management, marine spatial planning & marine protected areas, coastal & ocean law, and marine cultural resources.
The Coral Reef Future Lab’s Land-Based Coral Nursery.
Marine Biology & Ecology
The Marine Biology & Ecology major is designed to give students a strong background in biology and quantitative skills as well as handson, authentic research experience in tropical marine ecology, genomics & evolution, animal physiology, immunology, biomedicine, and conservation biology. The strength of the Marine Biology & Ecology program is the opportunity for undergraduates to fully participate in research with diverse faculty. These research opportunities provide skills to excel in medicine, graduate school, and other diverse fields.
The Shark Research & Conservation Program catch, tag, and safely release sharks to gather crucial data for conservation efforts.
Marine Science (Double Major)
Since its founding in 1977, UM’s double major Marine Science program has established itself as one of the top programs in the country. Marine Science is an interdisciplinary program dealing with the study of the world’s oceans, their biological, physical and chemical constituents, the influence of oceanic resources on human society and the conservation and future development of these resources in Earth’s changing climate. The breadth
of the Marine Science major is complemented with depth in a required second major in one of the basic or applied sciences. Approved second majors are: Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering (all disciplines), Geological Sciences, Mathematics, Meteorology, Microbiology & Immunology and Physics (pure or applied).
The Meteorology major provides students with an extensive knowledge of the atmosphere and the quantitative and computational skills needed to evaluate atmospheric processes, including climate variability and climate change, across multiple spatial scales. The Meteorology major can be combined with a second major in Marine Science, Applied
Mathematics, or Broadcast Journalism. Experiential courses are designed to provide students with the tools needed to forecast extratropical and tropical weather and communicate the weather on UMTV. Students can also gain research experience in topics such as clouds and precipitation, aerosol chemistry, climate variability, and hurricanes. Meteorology
The SUSTAIN Laboratory (SUrge-STructure-Atmosphere INteraction) is a powerful wind-wave tank capable of creating category 5 hurricane force winds of up to 155 mph.
Oceanography
A degree in oceanography will provide students with a broad understanding of the vital role of the oceans in the Earth System. Oceanography is a multidisciplinary field, and students will advance their understanding of physical, chemical, and biological processes and their interactions in the ocean. Students have opportunities to learn firsthand about the tools, methods and instruments used to analyze, model and understand oceanic processes. In addition to building a broad foundation in the sciences through chemistry, biology, physics and math, this single major allows students the flexibility to further explore other areas of interest or add a minor.
Learn Outside the Classroom: Study Abroad
We offer a variety of study abroad opportunities. UGalapagos is an exciting program that takes students to the famed Galapagos Islands for a fieldoriented semester of study. Based in the picturesque village of Puerto Villamil on Isabela Island, the University of Miami offers a full five course (17-credit) semester tailored to the needs and interests of students majoring in marine science and/or policy. Students live with local host families in Puerto Villamil, affording them the opportunity for full immersion in village life and culture, while fieldwork takes them to places that tourists may never see. For geology students, a one-month summer field course in Newfoundland and Labrador teaches them the necessary observational and mapping skills to become professional geologists.
