Curriculum
Students are expected to take about 12 courses during their first two years in the Joint Program. Typically these will include 4 core courses, 2 math courses and 6 or more electives. This number is a recommendation and not a requirement – there are no formal physical oceanography course requirements in the Joint Program. In addition, students are expected to attend research seminars and to complete widespread independent reading of the literature. They are encouraged to explore the diverse course offerings in other departments at MIT as well as to take advantage of the opportunity to cross-register at Harvard or Brown.
Core courses and mathematics
The core curriculum is intended to provide the minimum, essential foundation for students pursuing research in physical oceanography or an interdisciplinary field including physical oceanography. Students typically take 4 area-specific core courses.
For students interested in General Physical Oceanography, these are typically:
- Fluid Dynamics of the Atmosphere and Ocean (12.800)
- Introduction to Observational Physical Oceanography (12.808)
- Steady Circulation of the Ocean and Atmosphere (12.801)
- Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere (12.802)
For students with interdisciplinary interests, one or two of these courses (usually 12.801 or 12.802) are substitute with a more area-specific core course. Several area-specific, alternative core-courses are listed below:
Physical Oceanography and Climate
12.812 General Circulation of the Atmosphere (F)
12.801 General Circulation of the ocean (S)
Physical-biological-chemical Interactions
12.742 Marine Chemistry (F)
7.47 Biological Oceanography (S)
Coastal/Nearshore Physical Oceanography and Engineering
1.69 Coastal Engineering (F)
And one of
12.862 Coastal Physical Oceanography (F)
12.802 Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere (S)
Students typically take these courses during their first year unless they have had prior experience with the subject matter before entering.
In addition, most research topics in physical oceanography require an understanding of the methods of applied mathematics. We recommend that students take two Applied Math courses.
Electives
The core curricula have been kept to a minimum in order to allow each student to define a program of elective courses that are tailored to their research interest. Some of the most common and relevant electives are indicated within the different curricula by an asterisk (*). In addition, to help prepare for research on these diverse topics, Joint Program students may choose elective courses from the offerings of any MIT or WHOI department and cross-registration is available with Harvard. The list of possible elective is thus very extensive. Students are encouraged to consult the sample curricula as well as the appropriate course catalogues. Students are expected to define their own, personal paths through an elective course program, with advice from their major advisor and other academic staff members.
Physical oceanography students take around 14 to 16 courses during their first two years in residence. The goal of the program is to lay the foundation for later scholarship and research and to allow students to follow their individual interests. Here are some examples of different paths toward the Ph.D. These example course lists are by no means exclusive. Students are encouraged to consult with their advisors to determine courses that best suit their research and interests.
Focus: General Physical Oceanography
12.805* Laboratory in Physical Oceanography
12.803* Quasi-balanced Circulation
12.804* Large Scale Flow Dynamic Laboratory
12.755 Hydraulic Phenomena in Geophysical Fluid Flows
12.862 Coastal Physical Oceanography
12.758 Classic Papers PO
12.809 Hydraulic Flows
12.820 Turbulence in the Atmosphere and Oceans
12.824 Instability Theory
12.831 Dynamics and Transport in the Stratosphere (S)
12.870 Air-Sea Interaction
12.950 Computational Ocean Modeling
Focus: Physical Oceanography and Climate
12.842* Physics and Chemistry of Climate (F)
12.756* Climate Variability and Diagnostics (S, odd)
12.740* Paleooceanography (S, even)
12.802* Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere (S)
12.864* Inference from data and models (starting in 2015-2016).
12.708 Advanced Seminar in Paleoceanography
12.707 The history of the Earth’s Climate (S, odd)
12.757 Climate Change Science and Communication (S)
12.831 Dynamics and Transport in the Stratosphere (S)
12.848 Global Climate Change: Economics, Science and Policy (S)
12.885 Environmental Science and Society (F)
EPS208 Physics of Climate (Harvard, F)
EPS231 Climate Dynamics (Harvard, S)
Focus: Physical-Bio-Chemical Interactions
7.410* Applied Statistics (F)
12.823* Modeling the Biology and Physics of the Ocean (S)
12.802* Wave Motions in the Ocean and Atmosphere (S)
7.430 Genetics of Marine Organisms
7.431 Topics in Marine Ecology
7.440 Intro to Mathematical Ecology
7.437 Topics in Molecular Biological Oceanography
7.436 Topics in Phytoplankton Biology
7.434 Topics in Zooplankton Biology connectivity
7.435 Topics in Benthic Biology
7.439 Topics in Marine Microbiology
12.746 Marine Organic Geochemistry
2.29 Numerical Fluid Mechanics
12.864 Inference from Data and Models
7.440 An Introduction to Mathematical Ecology
1.715 Environmental Data Analysis
12.714 Computational Data Analysis
Focus: Costal/Nearshore Physical oceanography and Engineering
2.29* Numerical Fluid Mechanics
12.805* Laboratory in Physical Oceanography
12.820* Turbulence in the Ocean and Atmosphere
or
2.27* Turbulent and separated flows
1.64* Physical Limnology
1.723 Numerical Modeling
1.72 Groundwater
1.67 Sediment transport and coastal processes
12.754 Coastal geomorphology
12.864 Inference from data and models
For more complete information on course offerings, see the MIT catalog.