Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
The Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Rady Business School of University of California, San Diego, have joined forces to create a degree program the world has never been witness to before! Nature Career's reports the new joint Oceanography PhD/MBA (Master of Business Administration) promises "... to unearth novel economic solutions to ecological problems such as fisheries collapse" and quotes Scripps ecologist George Sugihara,
"Management and policy are bumping up against business concerns, and having credentials in both worlds will give an individual that much more gravity."Enrollment starts this Fall. This looks like a great program and promises to provide the expertise for future scientists to make sound business decisions, understand the economic impacts of science and conservation, and develop meaningful links between science and industry. I applaud the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for seeding the initial funds for this long overdue project.
Education & Careers
Comments
Hopefully these graduates can figure out how to fund the global ocean observing system!
Although Scripps may have the first Oceanography/MBA, its not the first environment/MBA. Duke's Nicholas School of the Environment offers a joint MBA and Masters of Environmental Management in a 3 year program.
Posted by: Peter | March 24, 2008 7:21 AM
Peter's right about Duke. However, the University of Michigan's been leading the way on this one. (Go Blue!) U of M's School of Natural Resources and Environment and Ross School of Business have offered joint masters degrees (MS/MBA and MLA/MBA) for several years (roughly a decade now) - first as the "Corporate Environmental Management Program", and now as the "Erb Program for Global Sustainable Enterprise."
In addition, the two schools have expanded the Erb Program to the PhD level in the past couple years, although there are not - as yet - any PhD/MBA students in it.
As for the Oceanography/MBA connection, Scripps may be the first to formally offer this combination, but I know of one Michigan MS/MBA graduate who specifically did her research on marine science and corporate sustainability in the Gulf of Mexico since no other university (at the time) offered such a combination. (Yes, she did research in the Gulf of Mexico while being a student at Michigan.)
*yawn* And I thought this would be groundbreaking and interesting.
Posted by: Umlud | March 24, 2008 8:54 AM
"Scripps may be the first to formally offer..." not so fast....in 2008 (same year as Scripps degree referred to above was started) The University of Rhode Island began offering a MBA-Master of Oceanography dual degree.
Branded as The Blue MBA, this dual degree this can be completed in 16 months, far less than Scripps Ph.D./MBA, Duke, UMich, etc.
Google MBA oceanography and URI's degree appears as the first or second hit - the only MBA in ocean/climate sciences, offered through the URI's College of Business Administration and the world class Graduate School of Oceanography. This degree has been covered by Business Week, The Economist, and others.
Posted by: Brad | April 16, 2009 8:52 PM