Ocean Engineering Entrepreneurship Pathway

Ocean Engineering Entrepreneurship Pathway

Coastal Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Scholarship

Build on your engineering experience and help establish the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a national leader in ocean science, engineering, and maritime technology.

The Coastal Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Scholarship gives students with engineering backgrounds an opportunity to combine their technical expertise with foundational business knowledge. Through advanced coursework in both disciplines, students gain the skills and resources needed to move innovative ideas from concept to completion.

This pathway is designed for students with engineering-related education or experience who want to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA.)

What Will I Learn?

• Identify opportunities within the blue economy.
• Develop and implement effective technical and entrepreneurial solutions.
• Examine current issues in marine operations and generate innovative responses.
• Evaluate commercial viability by creating business, financial, marketing, and strategic plans.
• Collaborate with MBA students from diverse backgrounds on comprehensive projects.

Program Benefits 

• Build connections with students and professionals from programs across campus.
• Work with entrepreneurs on applied MBA projects.
• Gain hands-on experience through entrepreneurship electives and a capstone course.
• Connect with entrepreneurs at late-stage startups addressing Mississippi Gulf Coast market opportunities through the Gulf Blue Navigator program.

Program Outcomes

Graduates will:

• Add foundational business knowledge to their technical engineering expertise.
• Develop a distinctive interdisciplinary skill set that helps them stand out among their peers.How to Apply?

Program Background

The scholarship was announced in 2019 as part of a group of 15 restoration projects funded through the RESTORE Act. Funding was distributed by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of the state’s restoration efforts related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The original grant was limited to students who had completed an Ocean Engineering degree at USM. In 2026, the grant was extended, and eligibility was expanded to students with engineering-related degrees or work experience.

Applicants must:

• Meet the MBA program’s admission requirements.
• Hold an engineering-related degree or have engineering-related work experience.
• Submit an essay through USM’s scholarship application portal explaining how an MBA supports their career goals and how they expect to advance ocean science, engineering, and maritime technology development, testing, evaluation, and training on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Eligible degrees and work experience may include, but are not limited to, ocean, civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, computer, and software engineering.

How to Apply

Students must first apply and be admitted to the MBA program. Once admitted, they may submit a scholarship application through USM’s Golden Opportunities Scholarship and Competitive Programs Application System.

Selected students will receive a scholarship covering MBA tuition and may request additional funding to develop the technical aspects of their proposed solutions, if applicable.

Scholarship recipients must attend at least one in-person Gulf Blue Navigator event each semester while enrolled in the MBA program. They must also share their experience at a recruiting event during their final semester.

For more information about the Coastal Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Scholarship or the application process, email steven.stelkFREEMississippi.