Student Work
Senior Terra Hiebert is going to be one of the first UO students to graduate with a degree in Marine Biology. In high school, Terra worked at a small aquarium in the coastal town of Seaside, Oregon. As a sophomore, Terra transferred to the University of Oregon to focus her studies on the marine environment she knew best.
Since then, Terra has spent as much time as possible at OIMB. “I really love it here,” Terra said during a telephone interview from the coastal facilities. “It’s a refreshing change from the busy life on the main campus; it’s smaller, and so casual. At OIMB you are immersed in marine biology,” Terra says. “I learn better in this kind of environment.”
“The faculty has been really helpful. You can go to them and ask for direction as far as focusing your field of study or future work, and they will help you figure it out,” Terra said.
Most recently, Terra conducted research on how the size of featherduster worm colonies affects the growth rate and size of individual worms. She says that working in fish and wildlife resource management is a likely career path but adds that “any job having to do with marine biology that would allow me to work with great people—outside—and I’d be perfectly content.”
Selected Faculty Work
Professor of Biology Craig Young serves as Director of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. Over the past 20 years, Craig and his students have made hundreds of dives to the sea floor in 8 different submersibles and have worked at many marine laboratories in Europe, Asia, North America, Antarctica and Australia. Currently, they are investigating the reproduction of mussels and giant tube worms living at cold methane seeps near oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and at hydrothermal vents found in areas of underwater volcanic activity in the eastern Pacific.
Professor Alan Shanks’ research interests center on the dispersal and transport of the larvae of marine invertebrates and fish. He investigates the interaction between physical oceanography and larval behavior and how this controls dispersal. Recent investigations have studied the effect of upwelling and downwelling events on the cross-shelf distribution of larvae and the role of very nearshore oceanography in controlling larval dispersal and settlement. He is also interested in the behavior of intertidal animals.
Professor Richard Emlet studies the functional morphology, biomechanics, ecology, and evolution of invertebrate organisms. He is interested in how developmental and evolutionary processes interact to produce morphological and life history patterns among marine organisms. His research efforts include larval biology, suspension feeding by microscopic organisms (larvae and protozoa), and evolution of sea urchin development.
Professor Nora Terwilliger and her research team is currently studying three related proteins that play separate and significant roles in the developmental physiology of the Dungeness crab, Cancer magister. They are studying the differential expression and functions of these proteins during crustacean development and molting as well as in response to environmental factors including temperature, salinity and oxygen availability.
Career Prospects
Marine scientists are employed by universities and colleges, international organizations, federal and state agencies, private companies, nonprofit laboratories and local governments, or they may be self-employed. The same careers opened to broadly trained biologists are also opened to marine biologists.
Marine biology is an appropriate degree leading to jobs in environmental, government, and biotechnology to careers in the medical professions. It is also a great major for pre-medical, pre-dental and pre-veterinary students who want a broad exposure to the natural world before specializing in their profession.
Marine biology isn’t all about swimming with dolphins and whales, SCUBA diving or spending time at sea on a vessel. In reality, there is a wide range of employment opportunities relevant to marine life. Think about an aquarium or museum. Entire departments are devoted to graphic design, publishing, exhibit design, conservation research, public relations, education and much more. So, even if you can’t stomach the open seas, you can still find a marine-related career that suits your talents and interests.