Hopkins Marine Station

Hopkins Marine Station is located on the shoreline of the Monterey Peninsula, 90 miles south of the Stanford campus. The intertidal and offshore waters surrounding the station are a protected California State Marine Reserve and provide excellent resources for research and teaching in marine biology. The lab is fully equipped for molecular, physiological, neuro, and ecological research, and is home to a dozen faculty and scores of postdoctoral and graduate students. University housing is available within walking distance of the station.

Coursework at HMS

The Station strives for a collegial, small-college setting with advanced training and research. Winter Quarter emphasizes upper level biology classes with hands-on lab experiences such as marine ecology, population genomics, oceanography, and invertebrate biology. Research projects on ocean predators, wave impact, acidification effects, environmental genomics, and physiology and sensory ecology provide an opening to research in a wide array of fields. In Spring Quarter, the Core course in Biology (BIO 43) and the associated lab are taught. In odd-numbered years, Stanford@SEA spends half of the Spring Quarter at Hopkins and the remainder doing shipboard research in the South Pacific. Holistic Biology is offered in even-numbered years and combines instruction at the Station with field work across the landscape where John Steinbeck worked and wrote. The Station provides faculty to the Wrigley Field Program in Hawaii (offered in even-numbered years) along with extensive field instruction on the coral reefs of Kona.

There is a new Marine Biology specialization in the Biology Honors degree track and opportunities for undergraduates to do independent research projects throughout the year. Applications for courses at Hopkins Marine Station are due the quarter before the quarter a student wants to go to the Station, except for Stanford@SEA, which has a longer lead time. Applications and more information are available at the Hopkins website and the Biology Department’s Student Services Office.

Housing and Life at HMS

Students live in four residences grouped in a compound in New Montery, a 10-minute walk or 2-minute bike ride from the Hopkins campus where classes are offered. The houses include full kitchens, have a walkability index of 84, and have been described as having a similar feel to coops on Stanford's main campus. There is nearby access to shops, grocery stores, etc. Normal enrollment is about 40-45 students per quarter, with higher enrollment numbers in Spring. Participants range from sophomores to coterminal students and are usually evenly split between biology and earth systems majors, but all majors are welcome to apply.

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