Get Involved | Volunteer
The world famous marine artist Wyland paints a mural alongside visitors at our annual Coast Day. The mural is on display at the Hugh R. Sharp campus in Lewes.
Informing and educating people about the ocean and coast is an important mission of the University of Delaware's College of Marine and Earth Studies. Our outreach staff and faculty are committed to sharing information about the college's research with the public. We host public lectures in Wilmington and Lewes, offer professional development programs and curriculum resources for teachers, provide news story ideas and scientific experts to the media, invite visitors worldwide to join us in on-line expeditions to marine habitats ranging from super-hot hydrothermal vents to frigid Arctic waters, and welcome thousands annually to Coast Day, our award-winning open house.
Lectures and other programs help to educate and inform.
Many of the publications, special events, web sites, and volunteer programs we offer are the work of our Marine Public Education Office and the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service. Specialty areas include marine education, recreation and tourism, seafood technology, coastal processes, resource management, aquaculture, and marine transportation.
If you would like to volunteer your time, energy, and enthusiasm to a worthy cause, consider these programs offered by the UD College of Marine an Earth Studies and the Sea Grant College Program.
The CMES Docents, a dedicated corps of trained volunteers, lead free public tours of the college's research facilities at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes. To learn how you can become a docent, please contact the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service at (302) 645-4346.
The University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program organizes an annual census of breeding horseshoe crabs on Delaware Bay beaches. Volunteers are needed to help count horseshoe crabs on key beaches in Delaware and New Jersey on three peak spawning days (one in early May, late May, and early June). To sign up, contact Bill Hall at (302) 645-4253. To find out more about this opportunity, Click Here.
In April 1991, the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program established the Inland Bays Citizen Monitoring Program. Through this program, volunteers help collect badly needed water-quality data on Rehoboth, Indian River, and Little Assawoman Bays — Delaware's Inland Bays. To learn how to participate, contact Joe Farrell at (302) 645-4250.