Rider University, with campuses in Princeton and Lawrenceville, offers a B.S. in marine sciences, as well as an honors program in the discipline for students with a minimum GPA of 3.5 and who successfully complete a senior thesis. Rider's program makes use of more than 18 marine field stations around the world . These include the Roatan Institute for Marine Science in Roatan, Honduras; the Galapagos Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences; the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences; the Lighthouse Education Center in Waretown, New Jersey; and the Marine Academy of Science and Technology in Sandy Hook, New Jersey.
The Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences offers undergraduate programs in marine science, graduate programs in oceanography and research internships in ocean science. The programs makes use of three field stations. The Rutgers University Marine Field Station, in the Mullica River-Great Bay estuary, is a year-round working lab for graduate and postdoctoral level research. The Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, with four facilities in Southern New Jersey, is dedicated to research in support of fisheries and aquaculture, and the New Jersey Multispecies Aquaculture Demonstration Facility is dedicated to stimulating New Jersey's multi-million-dollar aquaculture market.
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey offers undergraduate degrees in marine science. The degree includes study in marine biology, marine resources management, marine education and oceanography. The program makes use of the school's Marine Science and Environmental Field Station, an eight-acre complex that provides access to Barnegat Bay, Great Bay, and the Mullica, Bass, and Wading rivers. Upper-level students design their own independent study projects on local marine organisms and physical and chemical processes. One of the program's major objectives is to demonstrate that undergraduate students can be actively involved in research and make contributions to the field.
Programs in marine science incorporate biology, chemistry, geology, ecology and physics. Students will study topics such as the importance of the sea, and how it affects all life forms on earth. The major also generally includes study of pollution, health issues and the evolution, diversity and importance of the living things that inhabit the oceans. The major involves extensive research and lab work. Students must learn to gather and analyze data, present the results in papers and presentations and interpret other scientific research. Students must also learn to read scientific literature in a critical manner.