Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego

Scripps Institution of Oceanography is one of the oldest and largest centres for global science research and education. It has a staff of about 1,300 and an annual expenditure of $180 million. It operates one of the largest US academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. Its scientific scope includes biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the Earth as a system and it has hundreds of research programmes under way in 65 countries.