Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML)

In Biological Sciences .

Course Offerings  

Consult the Shoals Marine Laboratory website for current offerings; not all courses are offered each summer: www.shoalsmarinelaboratory.org.

Contact: Phone (603) 862-5346, shoals.lab@unh.edu

SML provides a unique opportunity to study basic biology, marine biology, marine science and sustainability in the field. We work on Appledore Island, Maine, noted for its marine and terrestrial biota, birds, sustainability program, and place in New England history. on an island noted for its biota, sustainability program, and place in New England history. Please refer to the Shoals Marine Laboratory  section under Biological Sciences for a list of courses (BIOSM) offered.

SML has established a national reputation for excellence and is North America’s largest marine field station focusing on undergraduate education.

The summer population of Appledore Island, 7 miles distant from the mainland, is limited to one hundred people at any one time. Students and faculty form a tight-knit community at SML, and can literally and figuratively immerse themselves in their academic explorations, free from distraction.

Cornell courses offered at SML are full-time and intense (most courses run for two weeks and award 3 Cornell credits). SML offers courses that fulfill Cornell major and concentration requirements (for example: BIOSM 1780 - Evolution and Marine Diversity ; and BIOSM 1500 - Investigative Marine Biology Laboratory ). Students come from all Cornell majors and colleges, and across the globe. Courses may be taken sequentially, not concurrently. A typical day combines lectures, laboratory and field work (in boats and on the shore). Field trips include investigations of nearby islands or habitats on the mainland, and collecting and research excursions aboard the laboratory’s 47-foot research vessel, John M. Kingsbury, or the 36-foot research vessel, John B. Heiser. Paid research internship opportunities (marine biology, seabirds, marine education, historic garden interpretation and curation, and sustainable engineering) are also available. Field experience and hands-on learning in Appledore Island’s intertidal and subtidal zones, and seabird colonies, is an integral part of the SML experience.