The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

(NOAA) within the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth ...

. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in

scientific research The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries; see the article history of scientific m ...

, education, training, and extension projects geared toward the

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

and practical use of the

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

, and other

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

areas. The program is administered by the

(NOAA) with the national office located in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

. There are Sea Grant programs located in every coastal and Great Lakes state as well as in Puerto Rico and Guam. The program was instituted in 1966 when

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

passed the National Sea Grant College Program Act. Sea Grant programs and colleges are not to be confused with

land-grant colleges A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...

(a program instituted in 1862),

space-grant colleges The space-grant colleges are educational institutions in the United States that comprise a network of fifty-two consortia formed for the purpose of Space research, outer space-related research. Each consortium is based in one of the U.S. state, fif ...

(instituted in 1988), or sun-grant colleges (instituted in 2003), although an institution may also be in one or more of the other programs concurrently with being a sea-grant institution.

History

At a 1963 meeting of the American Fisheries Society, a University of Minnesota professor,

Athelstan Spilhaus Athelstan Frederick Spilhaus (November 25, 1911 – March 30, 1998) was a South African-American geophysicist and oceanographer. Among other accomplishments, Spilhaus is credited with proposing the establishment of Sea Grant Colleges at a meeting ...

, first suggested the establishment of Sea Grant colleges in universities that wished to develop oceanic work. The name "Sea Grant" was chosen to draw a parallel with the

land-grant college A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...

program that was funded by grants of western lands to the states by the 1862

Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or s ...

. Early in the legislative process, there was consideration of leases of offshore parcels of ocean and sea bottom to fund the program by John A. Knauss and bill sponsor

Claiborne Pell Claiborne de Borda Pell (November 22, 1918 – January 1, 2009) was an American politician and writer who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island for six terms from 1961 to 1997. He was the sponsor of the 1972 bill that reformed the Basic ...

much like the 1862 land grants, but that plan was eventually scrapped in favor of direct congressional appropriation for the program. The 1966 Act allowed the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

(NSF) authority to initiate and support education, research, and extension by:

Encouraging and developing programs consisting of instruction, practical demonstrations, publications, and otherwise, by sea grant colleges and other suitable institutes, laboratories, and public and private agencies through marine advisory programs with the object of imparting useful information to person currently employed or interested in the various fields related to the development of marine resources, the scientific community, and the general public.

Signing of the 1966 Sea Grant College and Program Act into law by President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

was on October 15, 1966, as Public Law 89-688. The only major subsequent change to the Sea Grant Act was with a 1970 Reorganization Plan, whereby the Office of Sea Grant was transferred from the National Science Foundation to the newly organized

, where it still resides today.

Participating institutions

Institutions involved with the program include:

Pacific region

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

California Sea Grant The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography, or Scripps) in San Diego, California, US founded in 1903, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and Earth science research, public servi ...

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for cla ...

College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences The College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, or CFOS, is part of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. CFOS offers a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science in fisheries, master’s and doctoral degrees in oceanography, fisheries and marine biolo ...

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

University of Guam University of Guam ( ch, Unibetsedåt Guåhan) (U.O.G.) is a public land-grant university in Mangilao, Guam. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and offers thirty-four degree programs at the undergraduate level a ...

Southeastern Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico region

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

sub-region **

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

** Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium ***

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

***

Dauphin Island Sea Lab The Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) is Alabama's primary marine education and research center. DISL is the home site of the Marine Environmental Sciences Consortium and was founded by an act of the Alabama State Legislature in 1971. It also has a p ...

***

Jackson State University Jackson State University (Jackson State or JSU) is a public historically black research university in Jackson, Mississippi. It is one of the largest HBCUs in the United States and the fourth largest university in Mississippi in terms of studen ...

***

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

***

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...

***

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

***

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

***

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

***

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...

* Southeast sub-region ** Florida Sea Grant Consortium ***

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

(Lead Institution) ***Florida A&M University ***Florida Atlantic University ***Florida Gulf Coast University ***Florida International University ***Florida Institute of Technology ***Florida State University ***Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute ***Jacksonville University ***Mote Marine Laboratory ***New College of Florida ***Nova Southeastern University ***University of Central Florida ***University of North Florida ***University of South Florida ***University of West Florida ***University of Miami ** University of Georgia ** University of Puerto Rico ** South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium *** Clemson University *** South Carolina Department of Natural Resources *** Medical University of South Carolina *** The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, The Citadel *** College of Charleston *** South Carolina State University *** Coastal Carolina University *** University of South Carolina

Mid-Atlantic region

* North Carolina State University * East Carolina University * Virginia Sea Grant ** College of William & Mary *** Virginia Institute of Marine Science ** Old Dominion University ** Virginia Tech ** University of Virginia ** Virginia Commonwealth University ** George Mason University * University of Maryland, College Park * University of Delaware * New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium ** Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel ** Fairleigh Dickinson University **George Mason University ** Georgian Court University ** Kean University ** Marine Academy of Science and Technology ** Monmouth University ** Montclair State University ** New Jersey Institute of Technology ** Ramapo College of New Jersey **Raritan Valley Community College ** Rowan University ** Rutgers University ** Seton Hall University ** Stevens Institute of Technology ** Stockton University ** The College of New Jersey ** Union County College **William Paterson University

Northeast region

* New York Sea Grant (also participates in the Great Lakes Region) ** Stony Brook University ** State University of New York at Buffalo ** Cornell University * University of Connecticut#Avery Point Campus, University of Connecticut at Avery Point * University of Rhode Island * Massachusetts Institute of Technology * Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Lake Champlain Sea Grant
(also participates in the Great Lakes region) **University of Vermont **State University of New York at Plattsburgh * University of New Hampshire * University of Maine

Great Lakes region

* Pennsylvania State University * Ohio State University * Michigan Sea Grant ** Michigan State University ** University of Michigan * Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program ** University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign ** Purdue University * University of Wisconsin–Madison * University of Minnesota, Duluth

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Lists of universities and colleges in the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1966 establishments in the United States