Boston University Marine Program

Your support for the BU Marine Program transforms the lives of our students. Donations on Giving Day are reserved for increasing support for undergraduate research and experiential learning. Your gift provides scholarships, funding for research supplies and publications, conference travel awards, and much more!

This year, you can help us enhance our New England and Belize field courses. Each year, the BU Marine Program sends 60+ students to field sites all over New England, doing oceanographic surveys in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, scientific diving in Cape Ann, investigating marine geology in Acadia National Park, exploring the marine-urban interface in Boston, sampling seagrass meadows on Nantucket, and getting muddy at the Plum Island Long Term Ecological Research site. Further, we send all the students to Belize, where they learn first-hand about being a field scientist and conduct research at Calabash Caye Field Station on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Your donation will help to make sure that these courses continue to provide cutting-edge experience and transform the lives of every BUMP student.

The artistic side of BUMP....In a longstanding tradition, students and faculty from our Belize courses (Tropical Marine Invertebrates and Tropical Seagrass Ecology) crafted thank you cards for our friends from Environmental Research Institute (University of Belize) who collaborate with us and make our research at Calabash Caye Field Station station possible. The cards for Amera, Bree, Elvis, Josh, Rahj, Sam, Smitty, Shantel, Tony, Vicky and Usher were created by Paul Bae, Hanna Busby, Bethany Chen, Gwen Del Signore, Nathalie Chateauneuf, John Finnerty, Matteo Finnerty, Simone Fishman, Nikhil Gupta, Moksh Jhawer, Jenna Sorenson, and Ruoyi Zhang.

Students are deep (pun intended) in their research for Tropical Marine Invertebrates and Tropical Seagrass Ecology. They spent the first few days doing ecosystem tours and learning about how the seagrasses, mangroves, and coral reefs interact and support the ecosystem as whole! The students are now using that knowledge to do their research projects, utilizing all the tools they practiced ahead of time in the pool in Boston! Huge thanks to for all their support!

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While the weather the past few days may have inhibited our ability to post updates, it didn’t inhibit our ability to get in the water for research! Rain or shine (mostly rain…all rain), the students have continued learning and gathering data for their projects!
1: a student diver measures a coral while looking at fish-invertebrate interactions
2: snorkelers note the health of corals, looking for any disease
3: professor Robin checks out a venomous scorpionfish

The Ecology of Coral Reef Fishes started in on research today by practicing fish surveys and comparing results across different habitats. Students have learned how to identify families of fishes as well as how to run a belt transect and use underwater slates! We’ve taken advantage of the nicer weather by doing some work on the coral reefs; these will become inaccessible when a front rolls through on Tuesday bringing with it some blustery winds. Students will switch gears and work in the sheltered mangroves and seagrasses until the wind calms down a few days later. A good field scientist checks the weather and uses their time wisely as it can change quickly!

Students in Corals Across the Seascape and Ecology of Coral Reef Fishes enjoyed their first ecosystem tour today here in Belize! The stunning, flat conditions were favorable to explore the Calabash Forereef! Students practiced their snorkeling and species identification, and impressed the staff with their 2+ hour excursion in the water. On to mangroves and seagrasses tomorrow!

Scientific Diving and Underwater Research Methods (CAS MR533) is off to a great start! In the past 2 weeks, students have completed their .scientific.diving swim evaluation, passed a pool checkout dive, and completed their DFA training. This all led up to their first open water dive today! For some students, this was their first time scuba diving in the colder waters of New England. They all did an incredible job, AND saw so many cool organisms including massive Maine lobster! Tomorrow, we are back out learning about navigation and dialing in their buoyancy and trim! Next week starts the real fun! MR533 is headed to Maine for a week of research diving to learn scientific methodologies and techniques. Thanks to the leadership team: Professor Karina , TF Morgan , and DSO Lizzie ( )!

Congratulations to the BUMP class of 2025!

Your support for the BU Marine Program transforms the lives of our students. Donations on Giving Day are reserved for increasing support for undergraduate research and experiential learning. Your gift provides scholarships, funding for research supplies and publications, conference travel awards, and much more!

Make your gift here: https://give.bu.edu/schools/BostonUniversity/giving-day/pages/arts-sciences/bu-marine-program/?a=9837194

This year, you can help us enhance our New England and Belize field courses. Each year, the BU Marine Program sends 60+ students to field sites all over New England, doing oceanographic surveys in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, scientific diving in Cape Ann, investigating marine geology in Acadia National Park, exploring the marine-urban interface in Boston, sampling seagrass meadows on Nantucket, and getting muddy in Plum Island Long Term Ecological Research site. Further, we send all the students to Belize where they learn first-hand about being a field scientist and conduct research at Calabash Caye Field Station on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. Your donation will help to make sure that these courses continue to provide cutting edge experience and transform the lives of every BUMP student.

Your support transforms the lives of our students. On this BU Giving Day, you can help to provide scholarships, funding for research supplies and publications, conference travel awards, and so much more! Link in bio