Autumn Quarter | Spring Quarter | Summer Quarter | September
Friday Harbor Laboratories
All UW marine biology students are encouraged to spend a quarter of study at Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) our marine station north of Seattle on San Juan Island. FHL offers research intensive programs spring through autumn quarters. Students live on-site in the dormitories for 10-week spring or autumn programs, 8-10 week summer internships, or 5-week summer course sessions. FHL also accepts students world-wide from any institution to their programs.
FHL is an ideal place to jump-start a career in the marine sciences. Located on a 480-acre biological reserve, FHL has access to marine
habitats representative of cool-temperate marine habitats widely distributed throughout the world. All courses involve fieldwork, boats, laboratory work, and research mentorship from award-winning faculty. Course topics and research focus on local habitats, flora, and fauna. Opportunities for SCUBA diving also are available.
The following are brief descriptions of current FHL programs by quarter and some ideas of how you can use these programs toward a marine biology minor. Most FHL programs also can count for any UW biological and environmental science major requirements. Please contact marbiol@uw.edu for more information about how FHL programs work with particular UW degrees. Visit FHL's website for cost and application information.
Autumn Quarter
Marine Biology & Humanities Quarter
This quarter provides students with a panoramic cross-disciplinary narrative of current problems facing oceans and humans. This program includes field and lab courses in marine biology, as well as literature and creative writing classes inspired by marine biology, the local environment, and literature of the sea. No natural science background is required or recommended.
For this program, students take three classes from:
- Introduction to Marine Biology (OCEAN/BIOL/FISH 250)
- Ocean Circulation (Ocean 210)
- Biology of Fishes (FISH/BIOL 311)
- Marine Biology Research Apprenticeship (BIOL/OCEAN/FISH 479)
- Reading the Marine Environment (ENGL 365/CHID 498)
- Writing the Marine Environment (ENGL 283/383/483; CHID 498)
- Creative Writing Lab (ENGL 493)
Read about a student's experience in the Marine Biology Quarter.
Degree Requirements
This quarter is great for sophomores through seniors and helps with the degree requirements of:
Marine biology minors - AFS majors
- Oceanography majors
- Program on the Environment majors
- English majors
- CHID majors
The Pelagic Ecosystem Function Apprenticeship
Students in this apprenticeship look at the complex physical-biological relationships in the open waters (pelagic ecosystem) around the San Juan Islands. Students build on the work of past apprenticeships, exploring the causes for abundance and distribution of pelagic marine life. This study is important because it tracks long-term changes in populations of plankton, fish, seabirds, and marine mammals in one of the areas judged most highly sensitive to climate change.
Read about a student's experience in the Pelagic Ecosystem Functionn Apprenticeship.
Minor Requirements
This quarter is great for juniors and seniors. Depending the topics of their research projects, marine biology minors can use this program for a combination of three of these minor requirements:
- Integrative Experience
- BIOL Elective
- OCEAN Elective
- FISH Elective
Beam Reach Program
At Beam Reach, a FHL partnering program, students study the southern resident killer whales (orcas), their marine environment, and what it will take to save them. The program uses bioacoustic methods to explore conservation questions. Students live on the Beam Reach sailboat and in the FHL dormitories.
Minor Requirements
Marine biology minors can use 10 credits from this program that count toward:
- Integrative Experience
- Elective credits for FISH, OCEAN, or BIOL depending on the student's need
Spring Quarter
Marine Zoology, Botany, and Ocean Acidification Quarter
Students in this program take from 14-16 credits from this list of courses:
- Marine Zoology (BIOL 430) plus Marine Botany (BIOL 445)
- Developmental Biology (BIOL 411)
- Chemical Oceanography (OCEAN 400)
- Climate Change and Coastal Marine Organisms Apprenticeship (BIOL 479).
- Ocean Acidification Research Apprenticeship (OCEAN 479)
This quarter consists of a list of classes students can choose from, including four lecture, laboratory, and field courses that:
- Survey the groups of marine invertebrates and plants represented in the San Juan Archipelago
- Study embryology and subsequent development of vertebrate and invertebrate animals, including Xenopus, mammals, chicks, Drosophila, echinoderms.
- Explore what controls the composition of seawater and how humans are changing it.
In addition, the two research apprenticeships connect students with current research projects that focus on the effects of climate change on individual marine organisms and their communities.
Read about a student's experience in the Marine Zoology & Botany Quarter.
Minor Requirements
This quarter works well for advanced sophomores through seniors. Marine biology minors often use this program for these minor requirements:
- Integrative Experience
- Elective credits
Marine Genomics: from Biodiversity to Evolution Research Apprenticeship
Biology and Medicine today is the Biology of Genomes. Advances of modern genomic sciences and technologies are just beginning to be introduced into traditional zoological and comparative disciplines including marine biology. With the goal of being able to ask important evolutionary questions, apprentices explore basal metazoans (such as Ctenophores and Cnidarian or jellies) and basal deuterostomes (such as Hemichoradates, Echinoderms, and Tunicates or marine worms, urchins, chitins, and sea squirts). They will work to characterize the expression of genes in these species crucial for overall body patterning, organization of nervous, muscular, hormonal and immune systems.
Minor Requirements
This quarter works well for juniors and seniors. Marine biology minors can use this program for two minor requirements:
- Integrative Experience
- BIOL Elective
Marine Sedimentary Processes Apprenticeship: Elwha River Dam Removal Impacts
Students work with UW Oceanographers to examine the impacts on the coastal and marine ecosystems from removing two dams from the Elwha River, the biggest watershed on the Olympic Peninsula. The dams are scheduled to be removed during 2011 with the goal of habitat restoration. However, we do not yet understand the full range of effects that “restoration” will have. Apprentices explore the effects of the added sediment discharge in high quantities during dam removal near the mouths of rivers.
Minor Requirements
This quarter works well for advanced sophomores through seniors. Depending on the topic of their research projects, marine biology minors can use this program for these minor requirements:
- Integrative Experience
- OCEAN Elective
- FISH or BIOL elective by petition
Beam Reach Program
At Beam Reach, a FHL partnering program, students study the southern resident killer whales (orcas), their marine environment, and what it will take to save them. The program uses bioacoustic methods to explore conservation questions. Students live on the Beam Reach sailboat and in the FHL dormitories.
Minor Requirements
Marine biology minors can use 10 credits of this program that count toward:
- Integrative Experience
- Elective credits for FISH, OCEAN, or BIOL depending on students' need
Summer Quarter
Marine Biology Courses
Summer courses at FHL are ideal for graduate and advanced undergraduate students seeking advanced practical courses on specific topics in marine biology. All summer courses run for five-weeks and are nine credits. Most are intended for graduate students, but advanced undergraduates are encouraged to apply. This summer FHL courses include:
- Marine Invertebrate Zoology (BIOL 432)
- Sea Birds and Marine Mammals (FISH 492)
- Marine Algae (BIOL 539)
- Comparative Invertebrate Embryology (Biol 536)
- Ocean Acidification (Biol 533)
- Neuroethology (Biol 533)
- Marine Bioacoustics (Biol 533)
- Fish Swimming (FISH 565)
- Evolution and Development of Metazoans (BIOL 533)
Read about a student's experience in a summer course.
Minor Requirements
Marine biology minors can use these classes for nine credits that count toward:
- Integrative Experience if a research paper and presentation is required
- Elective credits for FISH, OCEAN, or BIOL depending on the course
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
This program links REU fellows with marine scientists in a 1:1 research experience. The program will incorporate workshops, seminars and training sessions in addition to hands-on research. As the research progresses, fellows will be encouraged to become semi-independent collaborators. Research projects are designed by the scientists to be achievable projects which dovetail with their research plans. REU fellows live at FHL and are provided a stipend for their work.
Blinks Research Fellowship Program
This 8-10 week summer undergraduate internship program is a full immersion research experience for motivated undergraduates, post-baccalaureates, and graduate students. The fellowship targets groups who are historically underrepresented in the marine sciences. Fellow work one on one with faculty and receive a stipend for their work.
September
Scientific Diving Course
This non-credit, 9-day short course begins with a standard check-out dive and includes all the components required to achieve current scientific diving status with AAUS (the American Academy of Underwater Scientists, see www.aaus.org for more information) and the University of Washington.
Students who take this course are encouraged to consider the Marine Biology & Social Science Quarter and the Spatial Ecology of Salish Sea Benthos as fall quarter options. Scientific diving students can request to do some diving for their apprenticeships in these programs.
Photos from top: FHL facilities by Whitney Grover; FHL dock by Whitney Grover; Taylor Jang on FHL boat from Taylor Jang; Crab by Ross Whippo; Pelagic apprentices by Emily Beyer; Pelagic apprentice labeling samples by Emily Beyer; Benthic canyon by H. Gary Greene; Orca from Beam Reach; Sea palms by Thomas Pool; Anemones by Thomas Pool; Urchins by Billie Swalla; Students on beach from FHL; Orcas by Frances Robertson; Purple sea stars from Marine Biology Quarter blog; Gulls from Marine Biology Quarter Blog; Blinks fellow from FHL; Divers from Kevin Turner