Master of Aquaponics

[Chandara Khan]

Hi everybody! Does anyone know which universities in the US offer Master of Science in Aquaponics? 

Thanks!

 

[Sahib Punjabi]

Well said TCLynx :-)

 

Aquaponics is just one part of the whole eco-system, just a few letters in the whole alphabet. One needs the rest of the education of Aquaculture, Horticulture & Permaculture etc. An Undergraduate or Graduate degree only in Aquaponics would not only be extremely limited in scope and learning, in my opinion, it would provide very little additional enhancement or employment opportunities in the real world economy than the short courses currently being offered by both Universities and private organizations...is that not what a majority of recent graduates are complaining about...how expensive College education is and how to use this expensive education in a real world? 

 

Hey, but that is just my opinion. I am sure given the recent increased awareness and demand for Aquaponics, very soon there will be some institution that will try to cash in and offer such (:

 

God bless,

TCLynx said:

There are plenty of Universities with Aquaculture programs and I expect plenty of those same Universities also offer Horticulture Programs.  So one could get a good education in much of the relevant stuff and put it together themselves.

[TCLynx]

LOL,

 

My Education didn't get me a fancy degree (since there wasn't actually a degree program in my desired course of study so I got a bachelors of Science in a student planned curriculum.)  I studied audio engineering as well as theatre Tech.  Many of the students where I went were actually planning to move onto graduate school, I actually got lots of hands on experience since the recording studio didn't have a Major course study program and there were not that many of us but as the manager for a couple years I did have to make sure all the music school stuff got recorded (some of those recordings I did got me some pretty good awards.)  Now If I had gone to a school with a Recording degree program, I probably wouldn't have had access to any hands on experience until I was a Junior and the course study would have been rather set in stone with minimal flexibility though it might have awarded me an opportunity to touch some top of the line equipment, it wouldn't have been as real world I think.  What I'm trying to say is getting an education from the top notch costly and prestigious programs doesn't always give as much real world experience.  While designing my own program at a smaller school allowed me to gain a lot of practical experience.  Granted, a person has to be a self starter to take advantage of such opportunities.  You can't be one to sit and wait for some one else to give you the answers, you have to be motivated enough to go searching and sometimes the biggest thing you need to learn is how to find the info you need and sometimes how to realize when that info might not be out there and you have to do the experimenting to answer the questions for yourself.

 

I think Aquaponics may be similar to that.  Just because some one gets a degree doesn't guarantee they are experienced in something and just because some one doesn't have a degree in something does not mean they can't do it.

 

What an education yields is highly up to the person getting that education.  The fact that the education itself doesn't necessarily prepare students for being functioning adults, well I fear that may be more related to our current societies attitudes.  No one seems to want to take much personal responsibility and how are students supposed to learn to be responsible adults when that attribute doesn't seem to be rewarded anymore.

 

Anyway, there are ways to learn this stuff.

[Raychel A Watkins]

You are right Sahib

We are in a world where we need sustainable living.  We should have a degree in this  not just aquaponics.  I believe there will be aquaponics of some type put into our Universities sometime soon as most U's have a systems.  The problem with U degreess like TC said are very specific and only specialize you in small parts of the whole.  You are better off going to a whole lot of different classes given by different people or do an intership under someone you like.  These have not turned out so well in some cases So pick wisely and don't stay so long you wear out your welcome.  Also just read everything on this site and you will have earned a PHD by that time.  Read and experiment and you will be amazed at how your brain reacts. 

[Sahib Punjabi]

:-)

Raychel A Watkins said:

You are right Sahib

We are in a world where we need sustainable living.  We should have a degree in this  not just aquaponics.  I believe there will be aquaponics of some type put into our Universities sometime soon as most U's have a systems.  The problem with U degreess like TC said are very specific and only specialize you in small parts of the whole.  You are better off going to a whole lot of different classes given by different people or do an intership under someone you like.  These have not turned out so well in some cases So pick wisely and don't stay so long you wear out your welcome.  Also just read everything on this site and you will have earned a PHD by that time.  Read and experiment and you will be amazed at how your brain reacts. 

[David Schwinghamer]

He lives in Phoenix metro area in Arizona. I met him at Homegrown Hydroponics in Tempe, Az for an aquaponics class.

TCLynx said:

Where is this George Brooks with this high degree in Aquaponics From?  The only George Brooks I found on Facebook didn't have any reference to Aquaponics in his profile.

[Sean Short]

The University of Hawai'i at Manoa. We are the world leaders in aquaponic research. Look at the MBBE degree within the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources.

[Chandara Khan]

Hi Sean Short! I could not find it. Could you give me the direct link to it? Thanks for help!

[RupertofOZ]

Yeah, I couldn't find a single reference to aquaponics on the  Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering (MBBE)degree course outlines...

http://www.catalog.hawaii.edu/courses/departments/mbbe.htm

Or here... http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/mbbe/courses.html

 

Any idea what specific aquaponics research is being conducted Sean??

[Sean Short]

Here is a profile of an aquaponics researcher, Clyde Tamaru.  http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/leaders/tamaru.html

As you know, this is a relatively new field of science. Curriculum is still being developed and evolved to address the needs of a changing world. Creating a new degree is always a challenge at the University level and must undergo approvals from committees and boards. Our department approaches this new science from a biochemical point of view.  This is my degree program for undergrad...http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/Site/PEB.aspx

There is not much specifically saying "aquaponics" under either the under grad or grad program.  If you go to the Manoa website you can enter aquaponics in the search bar.  A slew of info comes up. Try this website to look at free publications. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/Site/Info.aspx

Here's a few directs to check out.  

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/SA-2.pdf

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/FST-38.pdf

...and this has some great articles, specifically pg. 8.

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/site/downloads/crn/CTAHR_Research_News_...

Check out what publications you can. The authors found on those articles are definitely worth a good read. If you are clever with scholarly databases you can find anything you want by them.

Hope this is helpful :)

[Chandara Khan]

I see what you mean that's why there is no Master's Degree in Aquaponics. I have seen the document already. Anyway thank you for your information. 

Sean Short said:

Here is a profile of an aquaponics researcher, Clyde Tamaru.  http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/sustainag/leaders/tamaru.html

As you know, this is a relatively new field of science. Curriculum is still being developed and evolved to address the needs of a changing world. Creating a new degree is always a challenge at the University level and must undergo approvals from committees and boards. Our department approaches this new science from a biochemical point of view.  This is my degree program for undergrad...http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/Site/PEB.aspx

There is not much specifically saying "aquaponics" under either the under grad or grad program.  If you go to the Manoa website you can enter aquaponics in the search bar.  A slew of info comes up. Try this website to look at free publications. http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/Site/Info.aspx

Here's a few directs to check out.  

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/SA-2.pdf

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/FST-38.pdf

...and this has some great articles, specifically pg. 8.

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/site/downloads/crn/CTAHR_Research_News_...

Check out what publications you can. The authors found on those articles are definitely worth a good read. If you are clever with scholarly databases you can find anything you want by them.

Hope this is helpful

[RupertofOZ]

Yep. I'd also read the three documents linked, and had seen the work done in American Somoa...

But I was hoping there might be some more in depth aquaponics research going on... there's really nothing startling or new in any of the links, that hasn't been done before.. all over the world, by many people...

And Dr. Brett Roe here in Australia did significant research into "vermiponics" in "aquaponics" many years ago...

 

Hardly positions you as the "world leaders" in aquaponic reseach... but I'm glad to see the interest in academic circles... and hope it continues into some real research...

 

Definitely nothing there to indicate a degree in aquaponics though... let alone to "masters" level....

And there's more than a few DWC raft aquaponics systems operating in Hawaii... that are a lot bigger, and older.. than anything shown in the notes...

[Sean Short]

I'm just an undergrad promoting and taking pride in my school, please forgive any arrogance :)

What kind of research are you interested in?  I always recommend that you try to contact the authors of any article personally and ask them what research they are conducting.  Most of the time the information you seek is not available online.