Alumni Overview

In the early 1900's, when Scripps Institution of Oceanography was known as the Biological Station, in La Jolla, William E. Ritter said, "How big is this station likely to be...my ambition for it...is that it should be great rather than big."

Now, more than a hundred years later, 1,449 students have received their degrees for work done at Scripps, one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for global ocean and earth science research and graduate training in the world.

• 1,067students (74%) received a PhD degree, with 155 of those students obtaining a master's degree along the way
• 382 students were recipients of a master's degree alone
• 1,122 students were male
• 327 students were female
• 289 students (20%) entered as citizens of one of 46 nations. The largest group entered from Canada, followed by the Republic of China, and Germany

Scripps is proud of the accomplishments of our alumni, both individually and collectively. One measure of our success can be found in the quality of our graduates. Scripps alumni are national and international leaders in the ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences. As an example, among the group we have:

• Directors of scientific laboratories/programs/organizations
• One college president, deans, and academic department heads/chairs
• Company presidents
• CEOs and company vice presidents
• Naval commanders
• Astronauts

Scripps alumni who chose a non-science related career have also adopted our standard of excellence. Among this group we have:

• Attorneys
• Physicians
• A successful novelist
• Two wine vintners

• Tanya Atwater
• Stephen E. Calvert
• Jack Corliss
• Susan Hough
• Megan McArthur
• Marcia McNutt
• Colm Ó hEocha
• George Perry
• Brinke Stevens