Graduate students in the McMahon Lab at URI-GSO typically apply to the URI-GSO Graduate Program through the Biological or Chemical Oceanography disciplines. Please contact me (kelton_mcmahon@uri.edu) before you apply. I think the advisor-advisee relationship is one of the most important aspects of a successful graduate experience. So I like to talk to all prospective students multiple times prior to applying to get to know each other, evaluate mentoring/learning styles, and answer questions. While we consider applications on an ongoing basis, we strongly encourage students to submit applications by January 15th for a Fall Semester start (typical start for most students) or November 15th for a Spring Semester start to be eligible for URI fellowships.

About my mentoring style and what I look for in graduate students:

I have a supportive, collaborative, inclusive mentoring style. The goal of my mentoring plan is to provide the skills, knowledge, and experiences necessary to prepare students to excel in their chosen career paths while also developing a welcoming, inclusive environment for them to learn, grow, and be their full selves. This is done with a mind towards a healthy work-life balance that encourages growth both personally and professionally. My lab is organized in a highly collaborative rather hierarchical style, such that everyone listens to and learns from each other. The success of our lab is built on diversity, creativity, and a sense of well-being and belonging. As such, I explicitly seek out diverse people with backgrounds, perspectives, skills, and experiences that complement and expand our lab community. Students in my lab typically take on their own unique projects that cover a wide range of questions, locations, time scales, and methodologies. Most students in my lab use stable isotopes as a central part of their research, but not everyone. Students often have highly multidisciplinary projects that can include field, laboratory, and modeling work that spans natural and social science disciplines. I look for people with curiosity, ambition, and enthusiasm to learn new things and contribute to the positive, inclusive community we have developed.

I have explicit training in inclusive mentoring through the National Research Mentoring Network to implement a collaborative research and professional development plan for all members of my lab. Early in the process, I meet with each new lab member and discuss their professional goals and identify areas where they could use additional professional training to meet those goals. These meetings are formalized in the creation of an Individual Development Plan (IDP) following the recommendations of the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS). Where possible I will provide direct mentorship and career counseling but also help to build diverse mentor networks to expand beyond my own abilities. We continually assess progress towards career goals and revise and adapt our IDP accordingly. Professional skill development includes, but is not limited to, building skills in hypothesis building, experimental design, laboratory and field research, science communication, effective mentoring, presenting project results, publishing, and grant writing.

It's important to remember that finding the right advisor-advisee fit is a two way street. You should be evaluating your potential advisors as mentors just as much as they are evaluating you for your fit in their lab/program. I highly recommend reaching out to potential advisors early (e.g., late summer early fall of the year you plan to apply) to get to know each other’s mentoring/learning styles, explore research and career goals, and ask questions. Here is a useful set of potential questions to think about asking potential advisors and their current graduate student to help assess fit.

Degree Programs:

Both the Ph.D (5-6 yrs to completion) and M.S. (2-3 yrs to completion) are fully funded programs that provide a stipend of ~37k/yr, cover tuition, and provide comprehensive health benefits. There is also a professional Masters of Oceanography (M.O.) that is not a thesis-based masters and does not cover stipend and tuition. This program is geared towards professionals in non-research fields (e.g., Raytheon, Coast Guard, Navy, Tech Industry, Government/Policy etc) who would benefit from graduate oceanography education but do not intend to conduct oceanographic research. You can find information on Degree Requirements here. Briefly, both the Ph.D and M.S. degrees require course work and research credits, a research cruise (min. 5 days at sea), a thesis proposal defense, and a final thesis defense. The Ph.D has an additional requirement of a comprehensive exam once coursework is complete.

Note, Ph.D students at URI-GSO can simultaneously enroll in the Master of Marine Affairs program (see Marine Affairs) to expand their skills in ocean/coastal policy, management, and law relevant to professional positions both inside and outside of government. Students who successfully complete the M.M.A. degree may transfer up to six credits from that program into the oceanography Ph.D. at the discretion of their major professor in oceanography.

Typical Funding for Graduate Students:

Both the Ph.D (5-6 yrs to completion) and M.S. (2-3 yrs to completion) are fully funded programs that provide a stipend of ~37k/yr, cover tuition, and provide comprehensive health benefits. Funding for students is often one of the biggest barriers to graduate school. We get far more excellent applications than we have funds to support. So I highly recommend reaching out to potential advisors, including me, early (late summer the year before you want to start graduate school) to discuss funding options, explore fellowships, etc. There are three primary modes of funding for graduate students in our program:

1) Graduate Research Assistantships: Students on GRAs are funded through research grants obtained by the major advisor (me) and come with expectations of conducting graduate research related to the funded work.

2) Teaching Assistantships: Students funded on TAs are paid by the University to assist in delivering course work. Typical responsibilities include attending lecture, holding office hours for students, grading assignments, and assisting in projects/activities. TAing one course provides stipend, tuition, and health benefits for one semester, plus half the summer. Thus TAing two courses in a year would cover the full year (including summer) of stipend, tuition, and health benefits. URI-GSO TAs are usually assigned to lower level undergraduate oceanography courses or one of the four graduate core courses (post successful completion of the course yourself). While TAing is an option in the URI-GSO graduate program, it is not common to TA more than once for a M.S. or twice for a Ph.D. Our program has limited TA allotments so we do not expect, nor could we facilitate students TAing their way through their graduate program.

3) Fellowships: Students are highly encouraged to apply for graduate fellowships. I expect students joining my lab to be competitive for internal and external fellowships. I am happy to work with highly motivated prospective students to apply for fellowships, but to do so, we have to meet early in the application process to have enough time to develop ideas and work collaboratively on application materials. I typically like to start working with students in the late summer of the year they plan to apply for fellowships (i.e., typically one year before you plan to start graduate school).

• External Fellowships: There are a number of potential external fellowships that students can apply for, the most common being: NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (Due in Oct), NOAA Nancy Foster Scholarship (due in Dec), Ford Foundation, NDSEG). These fellowships usually require developing a personal essay, a research proposal, multiple letters of recommendation, transcripts, and a CV. These fellowships typically provide multiple years of graduate stipend and tuition support and are highly competitive, though our lab has had significant success in applying for them.
• Internal URI Fellowships: URI has several highly competitive internal fellowships. Major advisors nominate prospective students using the prospective student’s application material. Both the Presidential Doctoral Fellowship and the Dean’s Diversity Fellowship provide two years of stipend, tuition, and health benefits.