Greetings!

What an awesome site! In addition to being somewhat of a cephalopod addict, I'm going to be graduating in Dec '07 with a BS in Animal Sciences and a concentration with business/management from Penn State. I really want to follow my passion of Cephs however I don't have a strong background in marine science. I'm looking for suggestions on ways to get into a career field working/studying/researching/playing with cephalopods. Any suggestions?

It would help to get a Masters in Marine Biology, Marine Science or something similar. Unfortunately there are not a lot of researchers doing cephalopod stuff in the U.S. so the opportunities are limited unless you go outside the country. In the meantime learn as much as you can and then learn some more :)

Do you think the only way to get anywhere is with a masters? While I definately wouldn't mind pursuing higher education, I don't even know what I would specialize in. But I do LOVE going to aquariums and learning about species, habitats and ecosystems, and then explaining them to friends...so I was leaning towards marine education and extension (I guess?).

You do not need a masters , but if you want to make at least decent money you should probably get one. And I would think that most of the jobs you would be looking at (teaching/interpretation) would prefer a M.S. but may not be manditory. The best thing to do is to figure out what you want to do first and then figure out what you need as far as further education to achieve it. Also, it always helps asking people that do that specific thing which there are people on TONMO that do just about everything so I'm sure someone can help you.

While I agree it is helpful to get a master's degree (that way you actually get to do research). Here are some marine opportunities that are available on the National Marine Educators Association website.

http://www.marine-ed.org/board/index.html

You could also try to find a facility that has a public education/outreach programme. Work as a volunteer or try for a job.

But the others are right, to get into the upper echelons (& higher pay & more responsibility) you'll probably need an MSc.

There are some universities which have a marine science/biology/education programme that also have an aquarium such as the university of Otago (NZ!!!) (http://www.otago.ac.nz/marinescience) or the University of British Columbia has links with the Bamfield Marine Station (http://bms.bc.ca/) and Vancouver Aquarium (http://www.vanaqua.org/home/) The director of our aquarium Sally Carson did her MSc there and she had a strong focus on Marine Education.

hope this helps a little and :welcome:

Cheers

Jean