URI Graduate School of Oceanography

For five decades, studies of the ocean and marine environments have been a central focus of research and teaching at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO). Located on the water’s edge at the University’s Narragansett Bay Campus, GSO is an internationally respected oceanographic institution with a longstanding seagoing tradition.

Founded in 1936 as the URI Narragansett Marine Laboratory, and reorganized as the Graduate School of Oceanography in 1961, GSO is the state’s center for marine studies and cuttingedge research and outreach. GSO was founded as an institution without rigid boundaries between oceanographic sub-disciplines of biological, chemical, geological, and physical oceanography as well as archaeological oceanography and atmospheric chemistry. The result is a collegial school—an ideal setting for students, faculty, and staff to collaboratively address the science questions and challenges of today.

GSO played a major role in creating the National Sea Grant Program and pioneered the integration of research, policy development, and stakeholder involvement in coastal management programs for implementation at local, state, national, and international scales. GSO also carries on a tradition of active public service and outreach programming.

Complementing its broad-based research agenda, GSO has a strong academic program with nearly 850 conferred graduate degrees that are distributed equally between the master’s and doctoral levels. Graduates are employed in academia, government and non-governmental organizations, and the private sector and are distributed internationally across six continents and nearly three dozen countries.

GSO benefits from strong, long-term support from the state, the University of Rhode Island, and diverse external funders. With an excellent seagoing capability and an attractive and practical waterfront campus as the home base for its Research Vessel Endeavor, GSO has close links among its research, academic, and public service and outreach programs. In 2011, GSO is celebrating its 50th anniversary with myriad events and activities planned for the scientific community, alumni, Friends of Oceanography, and public.