The College of Natural Resources is offering 20 to 25 students the chance to spend the spring semester at the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology in Morehead City (CMAST), where they will take 15 credit hours’ worth of classes for the same cost of tuition as they would at NC State. The program, now in its second year, is open to students of all majors and of all years. All that is required is an application that must be filled out by the student.

Dave Eggleston, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and the director of CMAST, says the event was major success last year.

“It far exceeded my expectation; the classes went really well,” Eggleston said.  “… Students who were in the program last year had experiences that I didn’t have until I graduated.”

The program allows students to pick among the classes offered, which are not offered on Main Campus, that are taught by experts in the field who have been researching the subject for most of their careers.

“These are world class experts who love the idea of having undergraduates at CMAST,” said William Winner, a professor of environmental science. “It’s changing the personality of CMAST to accommodate students in a way that is building bridges between CMAST and the Main Campus that are getting stronger.” 

The students’ expenses will also not grow if they choose to take part in this program.  The housing will be in an apartment complex only four blocks from CMAST and will be of the same cost that students pay here, and there will be no increase in tuition prices. 

“Cost will be pretty much the same,” Eggleston said.  “It will be the same tuition rate; housing is brand new for the students and will be handled by the NC State University housing department. The cost of a room is about $2,900 there for the semester which is what it is here on campus.”

One of the program’s main goals is to connect students with experts and researchers in their field so that they can gain opportunities for the future.

“This is a program that has the ability to let students develop a network that builds them forward into the future for lives and careers that engage with coastal issues,” Winner said. 

Students who went to the program in its inaugural year last year, were able to take what they learned and create more from it.  Some students got internships and others were able to build connections within the field that they were learning about.

“Most students took what they learned over there (at CMAST) and made that into an internship for the summer working within their own fields,” Eggleston said.

Winner also said that students were able to find paid internships after their Semester @ CMAST which they take spending the summer there.

“We have had students who, after finishing the Semester @ CMAST for the spring semester who spent the summer there working as paid interns and research assistants, and further developed their skillsets in the area of coastal and marine sciences,” Winner said.

This program opens CMAST up to be more in communication with Main Campus, different from before, when it was primarily used as a research facility for faculty and staff to do experiments in a coastal environment.

The application deadline is Nov. 1 and regulators of the program are looking for diverse, enthusiastic students to choose from.

“The more diverse the backgrounds the better,” Eggleston said.  “… Last year we had people interested in marine science, environmental science, biology … and what I’m looking for is mainly some enthusiasm in the application.”