266 



OCEANOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES 



great importance to science, civilization, and our country's welfare 

 and security. We at Woods Hole are indeed grateful for your inter- 

 est and consideration. 



STAFF 



Tlie Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was chai'tered to prose- 

 cute the study of oceanography in all its branches ; to maintain a lab- 

 oratory or laboratories, together with boats and equipment, and a 

 school for instruction in oceanography and allied subjects. We are 

 a small research institution with a staff of 130 technically trained and 

 approximately 300 regular employees. In the summertime our work 

 is substantially increased by the addition of about 125 people who 

 are generally faculty members of universities, graduate students, and 

 college students. We have 40 research associates on our staff from 27 

 colleges and universities. As you well know, relatively few people 

 are trained in our universities as oceanographers but most we recruit 

 people with training in fundamental disciplines such as chemistry, 

 biology, physics, mathematics, geology, and meteorology. At the pres- 

 ent time our research staff has a composition shown on the following 

 table. 



Table I. — Research staff of the WHOI 



Category 



Biologists 



Ch 'mists 



Mathematicians 



Physicists 



Engineers (electrical, mechanical, electronics, 



marine, etc.) 



OeoloRists 



Oceanographers 



Meteorologists 



Number 



Degrees 



Doctor of 

 philosophy 



Master of 

 science 



Bachelor of 

 science 



9 



7 

 2 

 7 



22 

 6 



The complex nature of the ocean systems requires that our scientists 

 have a sound basic training in one of the fundamental sciences with a 

 broad interest in related sciences. They must have some special train- 

 ing in the problems relating to science at sea and, above all, a keen 

 interest in the scientific problems of the oceans coupled with an in- 

 tense desire to go to sea to solve them. 



From its inception the Institution has taken a strong interest in the 

 training of oceanographers and we are now most conscious of the im- 

 portance of attracting and training brilliant young people in the 

 fields of marine sciences. Tlie founders were all attached to academic 

 institutions and viewed the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as 

 a logical extension of their univei-sity research and an excellent facility 

 for fulfilling their desires to study the oceans. Over the years many 

 fellowships have been awarded — often from funds urgently needed 

 for research projects. Tabh> II shows soniotliing of the results of this 

 fellowship program. Woods Hole-trained j^eople are now working 

 almost everywhere that oceanograiihy is in progi-oss in this conntiy. 

 Recently we strengthened our summer fellowship pi-ograin by in- 

 creasing the stipend and received over 10 times as many excellent can- 

 didates as we could appoint. 



