The Master of Marine and Environmental Science (MMES) degree provides students with the training and skills necessary for planning, conducting, and evaluating research in marine and environmental science. Additionally, students explore how to utilize research to manage natural resources, with a particular focus on the issues and challenges related to natural resource management in the Caribbean region. The program draws upon the expertise of faculty within several units of UVI, in particular the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies and the Division of Science and Mathematics. Further, it is a bridge between academia and natural resource management sectors within the US Virgin Islands, the greater Caribbean, and beyond.

There are two tracks of study in the MMES program: a science based track for those students who wish to focus on research, and a management based track for those students who wish to focus on resource management issues. The program structure allows students to become conversant in the language of both research and resource management, and then to focus on their area of particular interest. Graduates of the program are prepared for a wide array of careers in academic, government, non-profit, and private sectors.