Oceanographers and ocean engineers: Demand exceeds supply

Abstract

Excellent job opportunities exist for welltrained graduates at the doctoral level in all fields of oceanography and oceanographie engineering, but there are too few candidates to fill the jobs. That was the consensus reached last year at the Deans' Retreat, an annual conference of US and Canadian deans representing the major schools and institutes offering doctoral-level training in oceanography. The trend of decreasing numbers of doctoral candidates has evolved since 1980, when the deans first met at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, MA, USA The deans reported that the largest pool of applicants is in biological oceanography, but acceptances are funding-limited. The other disciplines are applicant-limited, especially in physical oceanography and ocean engineering. Regardless of discipline, mathematics is generally found to be the principal weakness in most applicants.