UH Hilo Marine Option Program

About the Marine Option Program (MOP)

The Marine Option Program (MOP) is a certificate program available to all undergraduate students at the University of Hawaiʻi, regardless of major. The program has branches on campuses throughout the UH system. The MOP certificate is earned by completing selected course work and completing a hands-on project or internship, combining academic requirements with practical experience in an area of marine interest of the student's choice. Each year, MOP sponsors a Student Skill Project Symposium, where selected students gain valuable experience by presenting the results of their projects. The site for the symposium rotates among UH campuses. UH Hilo MOP also coordinates QUEST (Quantitative Underwater Ecological Surveying Techniques), the annual UH system-wide scuba research techniques course.

MOP also serves as the UH Hilo center for marine-related activities, ranging from scientific research to marine recreation. UH Hilo MOP offers students experience in a variety of recreational skills, including sailing and seamanship, fishing, snorkeling, and kayaking. Each year MOP students participate in tagging Green Sea Turtles in an on-going research program carried out in cooperation with the National Marine Fisheries Service. MOP also sponsors seminars, films, field trips, and short courses on various marine-related subjects. All UH Hilo students are invited to take part in MOP-sponsored activities.

Students of all majors are involved in MOP

Student of all majors get involved in MOP to...

  • Learn about the importance of our oceans
  • Attain networking and life building skills
  • Attain experiential education through:
    • Field trips
    • Talks
    • Cruises
    • Research projects
  • Add the MOP Certificate to their transcript

The hands on experiential opportunities offered take students a long way with a practical application of their studies.

For the Skills Project, students in Art can do a marine related piece of art or underwater photography of marine species for science or art. Or, students in Aquaculture can do a project with a marine emphasis, such as aquarium fish culturing or fish farming. Students in Computer Science have done projects on databases related to oceanography data.

Students come from many different majors with the main theme of a love for the ocean or a desire to learn more.

Interested in participating in MOP activities or earning a MOP certificate? Visit our events page or check out our certificate program.

MOP can be found on these other campuses!