All divisions have contributed to this growth but at different times ~75% increase

increasing interest in PO? increased GRA support

PO Graduate Education Poised for continued growth, but … –Strong competition for highly qualified applicants –Highly variable quality of applicant preparation (not all available GRAs have been offered) –Funding

PO Graduate Recruitment Challenges Funding for GRAs –recent positive funding trend, more GRAs –but, general outlook for Federal funding not encouraging Curriculum –loss of some top applicants to other schools, and to Meteorology (climate) –tension between broad interdisciplinary education and functional specialization

PO Graduate Education Challenges PO required coursework takes too long –Substantial time required to achieve competence (breadth and depth) for independent research in PO Not enough flexibility in course offerings –More students are needed to hold some classes regularly –Semester-long teaching commitments compete too strongly with research activities

Reconfiguring PO Graduate Education Objectives –larger student pool –faster average time to graduation –more effective recruiting of top applicants –better career track placement –more effective use of faculty expertise

Reconfiguring PO Graduate Education Goal-oriented curricula to recruit more effectively –PO basic research (Ph.D.) –climate research new graduate degree desirable? –operational oceanography (e.g., Rutgers, TAMU) two-year MS program observational or numerical emphasis in second year needs an integrated ocean core course

Reconfiguring PO Graduate Education More emphasis on career MS degrees –Federal agency and private sector demand Less reliance on individual grant funding of students –IGERT * for operational oceanographers? –private sector scholarship development? –student self-funding is feasible (e.g. ORE) career oriented finite time commitment * Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship

Reconfiguring PO Graduate Education Cross-listing courses with other departments –one way to get more qualified grad students into PO courses Modular teaching

Modular Teaching More flexible and configurable course offerings for students More manageable time commitment for faculty More team teaching enhances collaboration basic modules (e.g. waves, turbulence) can be combined in different ways breadth and depth of modules can be tailored per course more opportunities for cross-disciplinary education?

Infrastructure Office space for more students Teaching space –currently maxed out –instrumentation labs needed for operational oceanography Recruiting support?

Drops in applicants and acceptances