Marine and Coastal Science Major Lead Mentor Courses
Fall: Professional Development in Marine Science
Course Description
A professional development seminar for sophomore, junior, and first-year transfer students interested in a career in the marine science that will teach students (1) how science works, (2) skills that will make them a successful student, (3) how to find career experiences during their time as undergraduates that will prepare them for careers after completing their Bachelor’s degree!
The MCS Lead Mentor teaches courses in Fall, Winter, and Spring that prepare MCS majors for their future. The courses include professional development, career exploration, and a seminar series journal club.
"Interacting with your professors can be one of the most rewarding parts of your experience as an undergraduate student. Many students benefit greatly from having a professor who serves as a mentor — that is, someone in your area of interest who guides, advises, and supports you to help advance your education and career."
Students in BIS 124 (Coastal Marine Research) completed 2021 Summer Sessions at the Bodega Marine Laboratory by compiling the research they conducted during the course into these engaging and innovative 3-minute videos for a general audience. Join them as they meet urchins, crabs, snails, and bat stars in videos that integrate their training in research and science communication.
Congratulations to the 2021 Marine and Coastal Science Major Graduates!
We celebrate all of you and the enthusiasm, passion, and dedication to marine science that has brought you here, and will lead you to revolutionize scientific understanding of our field, communicate, connect, and engage with communities, and become educators, researchers, and world-changers.
For many undergraduate students interested in pursuing marine science as a career, getting research experience (even if its research units required for your degree) is a necessary, and sometimes intimidating, process.
Below, CMSI's 2020-21 Lead Mentor Priya Shukla shares some of her thoughts on finding and learning from her undergraduate research experiences.
Bodega Marine Lab undergraduate students Michael Brito and Kenzie Pollard just won first prize for their short film, submitted to the 2020 UC Davis Research Rockstars Undergrad Slam Video Contest! Michael and Kenzie made their video as part of their independent research project last summer during the Coastal Marine Research (BIS 124) class at the laboratory, working under the guidance of Eric Sanford.
Evan Tjeerdema spent the summer at Bodega Marine Laboratory, participating in both of the facility’s summer sessions. While there, he took classes like environmental toxicology and conducted two research projects: He studied the effects of environmental toxins on crab lavae and on predator-prey interactions using red abalone and starfish.
