Marine Science (MarS)

The Marine Science (MarS) program takes advantage of KAUST's unique location on the Red Sea, a living laboratory with great potential for hands-on learning and transformative research experiences for students. The program addresses the biology and ecology of the diverse marine life living in KAUST’s backyard, while still framing key concepts in a global context. Using the local Red Sea habitats as a primary study system allows for unrivalled real-life training and education in marine science, training students in general concepts can then be compared to other systems and locations across the globe.

The goal of the Marine Science program is to instill an integrated understanding of the Red Sea's diverse marine ecosystems, from deep-sea habitats to coral reefs. In addition to conventional marine science curricula, the unique environment of the Red Sea also allows for specialized training in extreme and novel marine habitats as well as cutting-edge training in climate resilience and adaptation. Topics covered by the Marine Science program include fundamental and applied biology and ecology, from genomic and molecular scales to ecosystem and environmental processes. Understanding and evaluating the physical and chemical environments that shape key marine processes, like symbiosis with algae and prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea), or drive assemblages of associated benthic and pelagic communities, is a central, unifying theme to the Marine Science program. Outcomes of this work have implications for global carbon cycling, endangered species, and management of ocean resources.

Program Chair

Francesca Benzoni - francesca.benzoni@kaust.edu.sa

Graduate Program Student Advisor (GPSA), formerly (GPC)

Ameen Ghawanmeh- ameen.ghawanmeh@kaust.edu.sa

Burgundy Powell- burgundy.powell@kaust.edu.sa

Marine Science Degrees