The mission of the Oceans Department is to discover, educate, and innovate to support a known, sustainable, and equitable ocean. Faculty, staff, students, and postdoctoral scholars advance ocean research, education, and impact through interdisciplinary collaboration, technology development, user-inspired research, and immersive education and training. The Oceans Department brings together ocean sciences – including biological, physical, and social sciences – and technology to advance exploration and knowledge of our blue planet and pursue solutions that tackle the most pressing challenges in climate and sustainability.
Degree programs
Undergraduate opportunities
Stanford undergraduate students interested in the learning more about the Oceans Department can explore Oceans courses here.
Oceans research at Stanford
Our faculty, staff, postdocs and students engage with partners on ocean research across the university and the world.
Hopkins Marine Station
Many of our faculty work at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove where students and researchers come together to ask big questions, explore new ideas, and discover how and why things work.
Marine Operations
Learn about required training and procedures for boating, diving, and working in the tidal zone at Hopkins Marine Station and the surrounding marine protected area.
Center for Ocean Solutions
We partner with the Center for Ocean Solutions at the Woods Institute for the Environment to translate research insights into solutions at scale with collaborators across the globe.
The Bob and Norma Street Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory (EFML)
Research in EFML is home to state-of-the-art field and laboratory equipment to study pressing problems in environmental and geophysical fluid dynamics, hydrology, and water resources.
Oceans news
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The chronic disease schistosomiasis wreaks havoc on more than 220 million people around the world. New research shows how introducing fish into rice fields could help reduce disease incidence and poverty in a hot spot for the disease
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Brief pulses of electrical current can dramatically extend the lives of sea squirts, whose rapid stem cell regeneration and simple immune systems make them a useful analog for understanding aging in humans. The findings point toward new strategies for protecting species from environmental shifts, and mitigating age-related decline.
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Manu Prakash and French collaborator Marcel Babin are being honored for their research on microbial life trapped in sea ice, enhancing our understanding of modern polar ecosystems.
