The Biology Department at CMU has an affiliation with the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory at Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The Marine Field Station, administered by the University of Southern Mississippi, allows students to explore marine-oriented course work and research during the summer months at CMU tuition rates. These courses require basic prerequisites in Biology and Chemistry.

Courses offered during the summer program are taught in an accelerated manner, as a full semester of work is compressed into five busy weeks. Student learning activities include lectures, hands-on laboratory sessions, some library research, and extensive field trips to collect and/or study animals, plants, and processes in the marine environment. Field trips, tailored to the requirements of each class, include trips to the barrier islands, Mississippi Sound, bays, salt marshes, bayous, and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as visits to public aquariums, marine parks, federal research centers, and aquaculture farms. During these trips, instructors continue to lecture, demonstrate, and explain as the "great outdoors" is just a normal extension of the classroom at GCRL.

Students immerse themselves in their subjects, figuratively and sometimes quite literally, as they frequently find themselves in the marine waters collecting samples and observing the myriad of marine life. Class sessions are augmented by weekly evening seminars given by GCRL faculty and staff and visiting scientists from nearby federal laboratories, federal agencies, and other state institutions.

For further information about the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory Summer program, please contact: Dr. John Scheide, Biology Department, Central Michigan, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 48859, (989)774-3291, FAX (989)774-3462, E-Mail: John.I.Scheide@cmich.edu.

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