Marine Biology: Laboratory at the Sea Education Association (SEA)

Headquartered in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, the Sea Education Association was founded in 1971. This program provides undergraduates with the opportunity to study the ocean from several perspectives and to do it both onshore and from the platform of a traditional sailing vessel. Combining an engaging academic and research curriculum with a voyage to the deep ocean under sail, this program is unique in the United States.

Students of any discipline are encouraged to apply to the 12-week SEA semester program that combines both shore and sea components. Onshore, students live and study alongside professional researchers, scholars and mariners. Students learn about the ocean’s power and mystery by studying a variety of topics such as maritime policy, history and literature, nautical science and oceanography. A component of the academic program requires that students design a research project that will be the focus of their work at sea.

The sea component takes students to the open sea and exotic locations in a vessel that is campus, classroom and home. Applying the knowledge that they acquired ashore, students have hands-on experience of sailing a traditional sailing schooner. The goal of the SEA Program is to provide both intensive course work and practical experience, both ashore, in a residential campus, and at sea, aboard a deep-ocean sailing research vessel.