Professor Sean’s Faculty Web Page

Cartoon of Professor Sean as a scuba diver.

Welcome to Professor Sean’s Home Page!

Professor William Sean Chamberlin, PhD, teaches oceanography, climate science and meteorology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Fullerton College in Fullerton, California, USA. More about Professor Sean...

Wanna Add?

I welcome ALL adds through the first two weeks of the semester. Before the semester starts, ensure you’re on the waitlist. Then, if you still don’t get added, email me at my gmail address (see below) on the FIRST day of classes, and I’ll be happy to send you an add code. Add codes only work once classes start, so just assume you’ll get in and get ready! 

Spring 2024

ESC 105: Introduction to Weather and Climate. See also FAQs.
ESC 110 Introduction to Climate Science. See also FAQs.
ESC 130: Introduction to Oceanography (all sections). See also FAQs.

Contact Information

E-mail Me: exploreworldocean<at>gmail.com (students) or schamberlin<at>fullcoll.edu (all others).

Social Media:

Call My Office Phone: (714) 869–5935. Please leave a message. I’ll get back to you. (Recorded messages go to my email.)

Campus Address: 321 E Chapman Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832 (I rarely check my campus mailbox, so if you mail me something, please let me know.)

Business websites (supporting ocean science education):

Publishing: Blue Planet Publishing
Red Bubble Store: Blue-Planet-Art
Teachers Pay Teachers: Blue Planet Teaching

Awards and Recognitions

2023 Top-Cited Paper, A database of ocean primary productivity from the C-14 method, among work published in Limnology and Oceanography Letters between 1 January 2021 and 15 December 2022. Wiley Publishing.
2020 Teacher of the Year Finalist
2017 Best Practice Award for U-ACRE Project (with CSUF and SAC) from California Higher Ed Sustainability Conference
2010 Teacher of the Year Top Four Finalist
2003 National Council of Instructional Administrator Exemplary Initiative Award for Project Nautilus
1998 Best Use of Multimedia in the Classroom, California Community Colleges Foundation

Grant History

2016-2018 The Urban Agriculture Community-based Research Experience (U-ACRE) program at California State University Fullerton, $48,000 National Institute of Food and Agriculture

2016-2019 Earth Science Undergraduate Research Initiative, $109,612, Fullerton College.

2015-2017 Increasing the Degree and Certificate Completion Rates of Hispanic Science Students, $28,616, Fullerton College Student Equity Program

2016-2017 COWABUNGA-STEM (Coastal Observing and Whalewatching Activities Bringing Underrepresented Next Generation Academics into STEM), $24,361, Innovation Grant, North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD)

2015-2016 Science Nuts! An Innovative, Multicampus, Multidisciplinary, Science Literacy Initiative to Improve the Success of Diverse Science Learners and Reduce the Achievement Gap in Science Classes, $24,975, Innovation Grant, NOCCCD

2014-2015 Students for a Greener Planet, A High-Impact, Sustainability-Based, Innovative Teaching Strategy to Improve the Success of Diverse Learners and Reduce the Achievement Gap in General Education Science Classes, $24,054, Innovation Grant, NOCCCD

2012-2014 Wastefully or Sustainably: How Does Your Garden Grow?, $10,000, A World Water Forum Grant from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

2014-2015 Increasing Science Literacy in General Education Science Courses, $2000, Faculty Inquiry Group, Fullerton College Basic Skills Teaching Excellence Grant

2014-2015 The Algae-in-a-Bottle Project, a High Impact Educational Practice for Connecting Aquatic Science Concepts, $1500, ENGAGE-IN-STEM Mini Grant, Cal State Fullerton

2014 Students for a Greener Planet, $1000, Environmental Innovation Grant, Southern California Gas Company

Select Publications and Abstracts

Chamberlin, W. Sean, N. Shaw, and M. Rich. 2023. Our World Ocean: Understanding the Most Important Ecosystem on Earth, Volume 1,Ocean Science (available on Amazon)

Chamberlin, W. Sean, N. Shaw, and M. Rich. 2023. Our World Ocean: Understanding the Most Important Ecosystem on Earth, Essentials Edition.

J. F. Marra, W. S. Chamberlin, C. Knudson, C. Ho, W. J. Rhea. 2023. Parameters for the Depth of the Ocean’s Productive Layer. Frontiers in Marine Science.  Frontiers in Marine Science 10:1052307. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1052307

Marra, J.F., R.T. Barber, E. Barber, R.R. Bidigare, W.S. Chamberlin, R. Goericke, B.R. Hargreaves, M. Hisock, R. Iturriaga, Z.I. Johnson, D.A. Kiefer, C. Kinkade, C. Knudson, V. Lance, C. Langdon, Z.-P. Lee, M.J. Perry, W.O. Smith, R. Vaillancourt, L. Zoffoli. 2020. A database of ocean primary productivity from the 14-C method. Limnology and Oceanography Letters. https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10175

Chamberlin, W.S., and Roman DeJesus, COWABUNGA-STEM (Coastal Ocean and Whalewatching Activities Bringing Underrepresented Next Generation Academics into STEM), Poster Presentation, NOCCCD Best Practices Round Table, Anaheim (2017)

Chamberlin, W.S., Jay Goldstein, Dave Echols, and Colleagues, Science Nuts! A Multi-Campus Science Literacy Initiative to Improve the Success of Diverse Science Learners, Poster Presentation, NOCCCD Best Practices Round Table, Anaheim (2017)

Chamberlin, W.S., The Ecosystem-in-a-Bottle Experiment, Poster Presentation, California Higher Education Sustainability Conference, Cal State University, Fullerton (2016).

Chamberlin, W.S., The Algae-in-a-Bottle Experiment, In the Trenches, Vol 6 (2): 8-9 (2016).

Lozinsky, R., S. Chamberlin, and M. Willis. Creating an Earth Science Course that is more relevant to today’s Student. GSA Cordilleran Section Meeting. (2010).

Chamberlin, W.S. Activity Guide for Exploring the World Ocean. Self-published. (2010).

Chamberlin, W.S. Guide to Student-Generated Videos. Self-published. (2009).

Chamberlin, W. S. and T. Dickey. Exploring the World Ocean. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. (2008).

Chamberlin, W. S. and T. Dickey. Exploring the World Ocean: A New, Inquiry-Based “Tool” for Teaching 21st Century Oceanography. The Ocean Sciences Meeting (2006).

Chamberlin, W.S. and M. Lizotte. Comparing Student Performance in Hands-On and Virtual Laboratory Investigations: The Role of Learning Preferences. FIRST II Conference. (2005).

Chamberlin, W. S. The Remarkable Ocean World of Jules Verne: A Study Guide for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Kendall-Hunt Publishing. (2002).

Chamberlin, W.S. The Teleweb: Meeting Diverse Learning Styles with Active Learning. Tel e-Learning Conference. (2004).

Chamberlin, W.S. Engage Warp Engines: We’re Going Where No One Has Before! TECH-ED. (2001).

Chamberlin, W. S. Face-to-Face versus Cyberspace: Finding the Middle Ground. Syllabus Magazine (2001). https://campustechnology.com/articles/2001/12/facetoface-vs-cyberspace-finding-the-middle-ground.aspx

Chamberlin, W.S. The Realities of Teaching Online. Faculty Association of Community Colleges in California. (2000).

Chamberlin, W.S. and J. Marra. Estimation of photosynthetic rate from measurements of natural fluorescence: Analysis of the effects of light and temperature. Deep-Sea Research 39: 1695-1706. (1992); https://doi.org/10.1016/0198-0149(92)90024-N

Kiefer, D.A, Chamberlin, W.S, and R. Booth. Natural fluorescence of chlorophyll a:Relationship to photosynthesis and chlorophyll concentration in the western South Pacific gyre. Limnol. Oceanogr., 34(5), 868-881. (1989). https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1989.34.5.0868