About EEMB
The Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology (EEMB) at the University of California, Santa Barbara is committed to excellence in the fundamental sciences of ecology and evolution, with a special emphasis on the marine environment. EEMB is focused on how organisms interact, how these interactions change over time, and how these interactions influence physiology, morphology, and behavior. These interactions form the foundation of all applied biological disciplines from medicine to conservation to agriculture. In this respect, EEMB is especially focused on acquiring the knowledge needed to support the many UCSB initiatives focused on global change. EEMB is comprised of approximately 30 faculty research groups working to understand the world's most pressing environmental issues including consequences of global warming, invasive and endangered species, impacts of environmental change, biological control of introduced pests and parasites, biodiversity, pollution, harmful algal blooms, and acid rain. Numerous graduate students and post-doctoral students conduct research with faculty in the Department and over 3,000 undergraduates are jointly instructed by faculty in EEMB and its sister department, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB). EEMB administers four specialized undergraduate majors (Aquatic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, Physiology, and Zoology) and jointly oversees a general Biological Sciences major with MCDB. The undergraduate Aquatic/ Marine Biology Major has been ranked second in the nation. EEMB faculty are known for their excellence in teaching with two professors receiving the campus' Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award and another recognized as the campus' Outstanding Faculty Mentor of Undergraduate Research.
Research
EEMB is recognized as one of the strongest departments in the nation in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology. EEMB has been rated in the top 10 departments nationally for its overall research impact (Science Watch), in the top 3 in Marine Science (Academic Analytics and the Chronicle of Higher Education), and in the top 10 in ecology and evolutionary biology and in the top 5 in Marine Science (National Research Council). Distinctions earned by EEMB researchers include The Ecological Society of America's Eminent Ecologist, Robert H. McArthur, and Mercer Awards, the President's Award from the American Society of Naturalists, and Hutchinson Award. Many EEMB faculty have been elected as Fellows of national societies. EEMB faculty founded the NSF-sponsored National Center for Ecosystems Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara in 1995. EEMB faculty organized and implemented two NSF Long Term Ecological Research Sites (LTER), one in the Santa Barbara Channel and one in French Polynesia, and faculty participate in 3 additional LTER sites in Alaska and Antarctica.
Location
UCSB is located in a beautiful setting directly on the California coast. Faculty and students in EEMB conduct research and teaching in a myriad of unique environments including the oceanic Pacific, deep coastal basins, estuarine, subtidal and intertidal marine coastal, and mountain, chaparral, oak woodland, desert, island, and coastal terrestrial and freshwater habitats. EEMB research studies are underway not only in California, but across the globe including such regions as the South Pacific, the Sargasso Sea, Central and South America, the Arctic and Antarctica. Outstanding faculty, top tier graduate students, state-of-the-art research facilities, excellent support staff, mild climate, and a breathtaking campus setting on the Pacific Ocean amid an historically diverse and culturally sophisticated local community combine to provide EEMB students and faculty with a rich and intellectually stimulating environment for research and learning.
