Chemical Investigations of Boston Harbor
An undergraduate laboratory course from the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in ocean chemistry and measurement, using Boston Harbor as the field site. Students learn oceanic chemical sampling and analysis, work with instrumentation built for marine environments, and connect hands-on measurements to broader questions in ocean science. The course materials on MIT OpenCourseWare include the syllabus, lab assignments, and readings that structure the semester, emphasizing real fieldwork and data collection over lecture alone. It sits within MIT's Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences offerings and reflects the joint strengths of MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the leading marine science graduate programs. The course is free to access through OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered, and suits students wanting a concrete introduction to how chemists actually measure and interpret ocean water quality in a real coastal harbor setting.