Anybody going to school for marine biology or related fields?

sean · Nov 19, 2004

Hi, i was just curious if anyone here on the site is going through school to become one. Or is anyone currently a marine biologist, pharmocologist, or any other jobs out there that are marine related.

Im giving it some serious thought for next year, but theres a couple downfalls ive seen they are making me think twice about. The reason why im wondering if anyone here is going into this job field or is in this job field, is because i have some questions, if you wouldnt mind answering them.

MCsaxmaster · Nov 19, 2004

Sean, I'm currently an undergraduate, but I'll be entering grad. school soon. I'm not sure I'm the best person to be asking about these sorts of things (I'm still trying to figure some of them out for myself) but I'll offer any advice I can.

Cheers,

-Chris

p.s. I'm most interested in coral biology and reef ecology. I expect to obtain a doctorate after about 5 years and go on to do experimental research in association either with a university or a government sponsored organizition like the NOAA, EPA, Smithsonian, etc.

sean · Nov 19, 2004

I pretty much just want to find out the basics.... pay, careers you can go into, travel. Reef ecology and coral biology are definitly some things that interest me most. So if i decide to go to school for a marine related job. I maybe following something similar to you.

So if you got into a government sponsered org. would you and your team get a gov. grant to go out and research something such as plankton? If this certain species of plankton lived in the reefs in indonesia would you be traveling over there, and living over there while running tests about it?

I guess the two things that are swaying me away from going into marine relate field, is pay, and traveling. But i could be wrong, maybe you actually get paid pretty reasonable, and you can do a lot of your research near home. What have you found out... what have you found out about these things?

blulegend · Nov 19, 2004

Take a look at this site to many contact people there: http://sio.ucsd.edu/

Also I found this link by searching ucsd.edu for marine biology: http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/guide/career.html

I went to UCSD and took a marine biochem class there. The professor was great.

I think you should look into graduate programs and tailor your undergraduate education toward it. Contact people and find out about research opportunities.

dlauver · Nov 19, 2004

Pharmacology

Sean-
I'm a third year pharmacology student at the UM medical school. I started my undergrad degree in Ecology but ran into some of the same road blocks that you are... Pay and Job availability. I already knew I liked research so I did 2 summer internships while I was an undergrad for a Pharmaceutical Company and fell in love with Pharmacology. After I graduated I worked in Industry for a year to gain some experience then came back to school.
I've seen both academic research and "big bad" pharmaceutical company research. It may not be related to the fields of marine ecology/biology, but I should be able to help with the different aspects of grad school and research.

-Adam

sean · Nov 19, 2004

hmmm.. maybe there a lot of different variations of pharmocology jobs out there. I heard about marine pharmocology briefly, but i was told it had a lot to do with corals, is this true? If i just heard some wrong info, would you be willing to explain to me with a quick couple of sentences, what your job will involve?

liquidskys · Nov 19, 2004

I was origonaly persuing a degree in Marine Biology!
But many of the same questions you are wondering were bugging me..
I have found that ALOT of the job ops. were mainly overseas..
which wasnt or well isnt a option for me!

My dream job is at a aquarium..
Id love it..

I had a great converstation with the marine biologist
at the Ripley's Aquarium in tenn... thats a dream come true job forsure!

sean · Nov 19, 2004

Did you get an idea of what kind of pay you would be getting to start to work at a place such as ripleys?

liquidskys · Nov 19, 2004

no. I had tried to beat around the pay question without just coming out and
saying "hey what do you make?" but he wasnt getting the hint or wasnt willing to tell..

I know 2 marine biologist that did some research overseas and had talked to the one guy about pay.. he didnt say exact but had said there were alot of office jobs that paid a heck of alot better for half the risk..
He had caught malaria on a previous research expedition!

and the other was a women who had also caught malaria overseas while doing research and gave that job up to teach at Macomb community college!
was a coupel years ago.. she was a bio professor!

dlauver · Nov 20, 2004

Pharmacology

Pharmacology is the study of how chemicals (drugs) affect living systems. When I think of pharmacology, I think of medicines and the human body. There is also a large veterinary pharmacology field however. Who knows, maybe there is some crazy person out there designing drugs that target corals.

Your typical Job in pharmacology would involve the discovery and development of medicines.

Don't know if that helped any.

The best thing you can probably do is to "shadow" someone who's job you would be interested in. Not only does it give you a great idea of what they do, but it also gives you some good contacts in the field.

-Adam

carlitofishguy · Nov 20, 2004

fish wholesalers us biologist in california

I met several Biologists in la working at the wholesalers. I don't know what it pays... They treat the fish for parasites and help maintain the systems properly. They are my go to guys when I have a problem.

C.S. · Nov 21, 2004

dlauvre don’t forget the corals have toxins some very potent some people believe that they could be good pain killers and things like that for surgery and disease patients

Anybody going to school for marine biology or related fields?

sean

MCsaxmaster

sean

blulegend

dlauver

sean

liquidskys

sean

liquidskys

dlauver

carlitofishguy

C.S.

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