College of Natural and Applied Sciences (www.coastal.edu/science)

Coastal Carolina University

Coastal Carolina University was founded in 1954 and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary of distinguished academic programs. Approximately 7,000 students, including more than 1,000 graduate students, are enrolled at the University, representing 45 states and 41 foreign countries. Students may choose degree programs offered through the University’s four colleges: Education, Business Administration, Humanities and Fine Arts, and Natural and Applied Sciences.

Coastal currently offers 38 major programs of study at the baccalaureate level and 6 degree programs at the graduate level in the fields of Education, Instructional Technology and Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies. Coastal Carolina University is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate and master’s degrees. The University is located in Conway, South Carolina, approximately nine miles from the resort area of Myrtle Beach.

College of Natural and Applied Sciences

The academic departments of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences collaborate to support the multidisciplinary graduate degree in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies. The College is committed to developing opportunities for research projects involving graduate students and their faculty mentors. In many cases, this research leads to peer reviewed publications, external funding opportunities, and outreach programs that address local, regional, and national scientific needs.

Located near coastal marshes, freshwater wetlands, undeveloped barrier islands, and one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation, the College provides exceptional opportunities for research in the responsible development and preservation of these environments. Research conducted by the College’s faculty and students is vital to the management of South Carolina’s natural resources. With research support from the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other external sources, the scientists of the College have earned national and international recognition as a result of their cutting-edge research and teaching.

Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies

The Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies graduate program encompasses a wide range of modern scientific disciplines. Focusing on the coastal zone, this multidisciplinary approach incorporates biology, wetland ecology, chemistry, geology, marine science, physics, and conservation biology in a comprehensive program of study.

The curriculum emphasizes current knowledge about marine and wetland environments including the physical, chemical, geological and biological processes, the distribution and abundance of marine and freshwater flora and fauna, and the ethical management of coastal and wetland resources. The thesis program’s requirement calls for students to conduct and report on their original research.

Admission Requirements

Candidates for the Master of Science degree program in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies must meet the following set of criteria:

1. Complete an application form and pay the required application fee.
2. Submit an official transcript from each post- secondary school or college previously attended (all prior undergraduate academic study must be represented as well as other graduate study). The transcripts should show a minimum overall graduating GPA of 3.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the basic courses prerequisite to the area of proposed graduate study and in any graduate work already completed.
3. Provide evidence of receiving a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution in this country or its equivalent at a foreign institution based on a four-year degree program.
4. Submit official scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The University expects successful applicants to have a score of no less than 400 on both the verbal and quantitative portions. The GRE number for Coastal Carolina University is R5837. International students whose native language is not English must also submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). Scores on the GRE (and TOEFL) must be less than five years old. International students may contact the Office of International Programs and Studies (843) 349-2054.
5. Submit at least two letters of recommendation.
6. Submit a written statement of educational and career goals, how this degree will fulfill those goals and the subject area of research interest while completing this degree.
7. Submit a resumé.

The preferred deadline of applications for Fall admission is March 1 and the preferred deadline for Spring admission is November 1. Students are typically notified in April or December of the College’s Admissions Committee’s decision.

Faculty Research Interests

Faculty research interests are extensive within coastal marine and wetland sciences. Some specific areas of faculty research include:

• Impact of pollution on water quality
• Stream and wetland ecosystems
• Molecular ecology and evolution
• Coastal environmental change
• Coastal geomorphology and stratigraphy
• Coastal geology and geophysical studies
• Beach erosion and processes
• Biogeochemistry of mercury and other trace elements
• Bird population differentiation and mating systems
• Role of nutrition in reproduction, growth and thermoregulation in a variety of
  mammals
• Population biology and physiological ecology
• Salt marsh ecology and habitat restoration
• Marine and estuarine microbial dynamics
• Plant/animal interactions in marshes
• Ecology and behavior of bottlenose dolphins and fish
• Ecology of sharks and rays
• Implications of land use and development on wetland water quality, ecological communities and susceptibility to invasion
• The role of nekton and benthos in the structure and function of marsh-estuarine ecosystems.

Faculty

Daniel C. Abel
(Ph.D. Scripps Institute of Oceanography) is a marine biologist. His research focuses on understanding the ecology of sharks and rays along the South Carolina coast. dabel@coastal.edu

Joseph T. Bennett
(Ph.D. University of Washington) conducts research in the application of analytical chemistry to solutions of environmental problems. He is currently involved in monitoring the sanitary quality of surf zone waters of the Grand Strand and is also conducting research on the impact of pollution on the water quality of local aquatic and marine environments. jbennett@coastal.edu

Steve Bush
(Ph.D. University of Massachusetts-Amherst) is a geneticist who studies the population genetics of plants. bush@coastal.edu

Richard Dame
(Ph.D. University of South Carolina) is an internationally recognized ecologist who studies shallow water ecosystems, especially those dominated by suspension feeders. dame@coastal.edu

Michael Ferguson
(Ph.D. Kansas State University) has research interests in the molecular ecology and evolution of type III effector proteins produced by the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. He is mainly interested in how these proteins evolved as P. aeruginosa evolved from a soil organism to a human pathogen. ferguson@coastal.edu

Paul Gayes
(Ph.D., Marine Sciences Research Center - SUNY Stony Brook), Director of the Burroughs & Chapin Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, is actively involved in: coastal geologic and geophysical framework studies, study of coastal environmental change, beach erosion and processes, behavior of nourished beaches and development of geophysical (acoustic) habitat mapping methods. ptgayes@coastal.edu. Web page and recent activities: www.coastal.edu/cmws

Craig Gilman
(Ph.D. University of Rhode Island) is involved in research utilizing satellite oceanography to study ocean circulation and the role the ocean plays in the Earth’s climate. gilman@coastal.edu

Kevin Godwin
(Ph.D. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry) is a wetland/landscape ecologist. His research focuses in wetland ecology/landscape ecology/conservation biology. ksgodwin@coastal.edu

Jane L. Guentzel
(Ph.D. Florida State University) focuses her research on the biogeochemistry of mercury and other trace elements in the atmosphere and in aquatic systems. jguentze@coastal.edu

M. Scott Harris
(Ph.D. University of Delaware) has research expertise in coastal geology, particularly stratigraphy, geomorphology, geoarchaeology, and evolution of the coastal plain and continental shelf. msharris@coastal.edu

Chris Hill
(Ph.D. University of Washington) links field and laboratory research to answer questions about population differentiation and mating systems in birds, especially in marsh-nesting sparrows. He is also interested at how landscape scale factors affect the distribution of marsh nesting birds. chill@coastal.edu

Wendy Hood
(Ph.D. Boston University) is a mammalian physiological ecologist. Her research focuses on the role of nutrition in reproduction, growth and thermoregulation in a variety of mammals, but most notably in bats. wrhood@coastal.edu

John Hutchens
(Ph.D. University of Georgia) is an aquatic ecologist interested in the structure and function of stream and wetland ecosystems. His research focuses on understanding how human activity influences organisms and ecosystem processes in streams, freshwater wetlands, and salt marshes. jjhutche@coastal.edu

Eric Koepfler
(Ph.D. College of William and Mary) has a broad range of interests in marine ecology. His training is as a microbial ecologist where he examines bacterial communities. These communities interact with algae, higher plants, and benthic invertebrates. Bacterial community structure and function are also influenced by human “anthropogenic” factors associated with coastal development, and global climate change. Dr. Koepfler studies these types of topics in the water column and in intertidal marsh habitats. Dr. Koepfler’s other research focus involves biophysics associated with temperature and salinity effects on microbes, plants and sea turtle nests. eric@coastal.edu

Brent Lewis
(Ph.D. Florida State University) is conducting research in the area of trace metal cycling and speciation.

Susan Libes
(Ph.D. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/ Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program in Oceanography and Ocean Engineering) is an environmental and marine chemist. Her research focuses on eutrophication and hypoxia in blackwater rivers and coastal marine waters. She is the director of the Waccamaw Watershed Academy which supports research, public service and curricular activities on watershed science and policy. susan@coastal.edu

James O. Luken
(Ph.D. Duke University) is a plant ecologist. His research currently focuses on the population biology and physiological ecology of rare carnivorous plants growing on the edges of Carolina Bays. He is also interested in plant invasions of wetlands and factors that contribute to these invasions. joluken@coastal.edu

Richard Moore
(Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin) conducts on the community ecology and physiology of subtropical estuarine and marine fishes and the systematics and zoogeography of freshwater fishes of the southeastern United States. richard@coastal.edu

Douglas D. Nelson
(Ph.D. University of South Carolina) is a sedimentologist and near shore oceanographer with interests in sediments, coastal plain stratigraphy, sediment transport and near shore processes. dnelson@coastal.edu

Keith Walters
(Ph.D. University of South Florida) is a marine ecologist with wide-ranging research interests that include deep-sea biology, marine snow dynamics, salt marsh plant-animal interactions, micro crustacean population biology and marine habitat restoration. For more information check out http://ww2.coastal.edu/kwalt. kwalt@coastal.edu

Eric Wright
(Ph.D. University of South Florida) is a coastal geologist. His primary research interests are in coastal geomorphology and stratigraphy, coastal evolution and late Quaternary studies. ewright@coastal.edu

Robert Young
(Ph.D. University of Rhode Island) conducts research on the ecology and behavior of bottlenose dolphins and fish, with an emphasis on the contributions of nekton to community structure and ecological processes in salt marshes, bays and near-coastal habitats. ryoung@coastal.edu

Assistantships

Graduate assistantships provide financial resources to assist highly qualified students in the completion of their degrees. Both teaching and research assistantships are available, and are awarded on a competitive basis. Assistantships have a minimum work schedule of 20 hours each week. Applications for assistantships are made at the time of application for admission to the degree program. Students interested in a research assistantship should contact faculty directly concerning availability. Graduate assistants may qualify for a special tuition rate, as published annually. Graduate assistant tuition rates apply to both in-state and out-of-state graduate assistants. All graduate assistants during the fall and spring terms are required to enroll for a minimum of 6 graduate credit hours per term.

Required Courses

The M.S. degree in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies at Coastal Carolina University requires a minimum of 30 graduate credit hours. This includes the successful defense of a thesis based on original research. The three core classes prepare students to deal with the complex multidisciplinary scientific interrelationships that apply to coastal areas. Students also are required to participate in the graduate seminar series.

Core Curriculum - 9 credits total, 3 credits per course

CMWS 601 - Coastal Marine and Wetland Processes - Overview of the relationships among geological, physical, biological and chemical processes affecting wetlands and coastal zone ecosystems.

CMWS 602 - Coastal Marine and Wetland Ecology - Relationship between organisms and their environments in wetland and coastal zone ecosystems.

CMWS 603 - Coastal and Wetland Policy and Management - Relationships among economics, environmental policy, environmental ethics and environmental law.

Graduate Seminar - 3 credits total, 1 credit per course

CMWS 697 - Graduate Seminar I - Approaches to research and literature review of possible thesis research

CMWS 698 - Graduate Seminar II - Plans for research and expected outcomes based on a review of literature

CMWS 699 - Graduate Seminar III - Public presentation of the completed thesis

Electives - 12 credits total

Approved graduate courses at the 500 level or above. A maximum of 6 credits at the 500-level may be used toward completing the 12 elective credits.

Graduate courses in Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies include Marine Environmental Modeling and Data Analysis, Advanced Geographic Information Systems, Standard Methods of Seawater, Tissue and Sediment Analysis, Applied Geophysical Field Methods, Aquatic Physiological Ecology, Environmental Ecotoxicology, Applications of Isotope Geochemistry, Climate Change and Evolution of Coastal Environments, Wetland Regulation and Delineation, and others including courses in biology and marine science.

Thesis Research - 6 credits total, 1-6 credits per course

CMWS 700 - Thesis Research - The student must assemble a thesis committee of three faculty members, one of whom is the major professor.

Campus Living and Facilities

University Residence Halls

Coastal Carolina University maintains 31 residence halls which house approximately 2,200 students. Apartment style housing is available at University Place for full-time graduate students on a space available basis. Housing contracts extend for an entire academic year (fall and spring semesters). A separate contract is available for summer sessions. All students are required to leave during Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks. University Place is located near the University with shuttle transportation to the main campus.

University Place offers a combination of two and four bedroom “garden style” suite apartments. Each apartment is furnished with a washer/dryer, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, stove, upholstered sofa and chair, TV stand and kitchen table and chairs. All bedrooms have private bathrooms and a shared tub/shower. Each bedroom is furnished with cable TV connection, Internet connection, double bed, desk and chair, chest of drawers and large mirrored closet. University Place also offers an Activity House equipped with an exercise and fitness facility, pool, social room with wide screen TV, half basketball court and full sand volleyball court.

A variety of year-round off-campus housing is also available to students at various nearby locations. For more information on housing, contact the Office of Residence Life at (843) 349-6400.

Parking and Vehicles

Parking permits must be purchased from the University’s Department of Public Safety by registering the vehicle and furnishing the proper identification. All vehicles on campus or at the residence halls must be registered with the Department of Public Safety and must display a valid campus parking decal.

Dining Services

Graduate students have the option of purchasing a meal plan. There are two locations on campus which provide dining services. The Commons serves all-you-can-eat cafeteria-style breakfast, lunch and dinner. The CINO Grille is located in the Student Center and has a variety of dining options including deli sandwiches, coffee, pastries and more. For more information on dining options, contact ARAMARK at (843) 347-8923.

Health Services

Coastal Carolina University’s Office of Student Health Services provides health care for all students residing in University residence halls and optional health care for students living off campus.

Health Services are available on campus Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Emergency health care is available at Conway Medical Center, which is located less than two miles from campus. Student health insurance is available on a voluntary basis. For question regarding health services or health insurance, contact the Office of Student Health Service at (843) 347-7466.

Financial Aid

Coastal Carolina University makes every effort to assist students in financing their education. Graduate students must be degree-seeking and enrolled in at least six (6) credit hours to be considered for financial aid. Interested students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to be considered for the Stafford Loan or other alternative loans. Coastal’s school code is 003451. The online version of the FAFSA is available at www.fafsa.gov. For additional information on financial aid, contact the Office of Financial Aid at (843) 349-2313.

Information Requests

Coastal Marine and Wetland Studies Graduate Program
Coastal Carolina University
P.O. Box 261954
Conway, SC 29528-6054
843-349-2074
CMWSgrad@coastal.edu

Additional information about the master’s program may be found at www.coastal.edu/science/coastalstudies.

Information on this page is subject to change without notification.

For University Admissions Information Contact:
Office of Admissions
Coastal Carolina University
P.O. Box 261954
Conway, SC 29528-6054
843-349-2170 • 800-277-7000
admissions@coastal.edu

For University Graduate Studies Information Contact:
Office of Graduate Studies
Coastal Carolina University
P.O. Box 261954
Conway, SC 29528-6054
843-349-2394 • 800-277-7000
graduate@coastal.edu