The program in Marine Affairs focuses on ocean/coastal management, policy, and law, and the joint degree program prepares scientists with policy knowledge and skills needed in many contemporary professional positions, both inside and outside of government. At the discretion of the cognizant major professor, up to six credits from the M.M.A. degree may be counted toward the requirements of the Ph.D. degree, thus reducing the total requirements by six credits. Students wishing to enroll in the joint degree program must apply to be admitted to both the Marine Affairs Department’s M.M.A. program and the GSO Ph.D. program. To ensure adequate marine experience, a student in the program may not be nominated for the M.M.A. degree until the comprehensive examinations in the Oceanography Ph.D. program are successfully completed.