CCE LTER hosted a graduate student symposium at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla to promote collegial exchange of research results among the southern California LTER sites (SBC, MCR, and CCE). The participants are students at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge, and are researching marine ecosystems in the Antarctic, French Polynesia and southern California. The symposium's format allowed for both oral and poster presentations, and also allowed students to begin developing their future collaborations. Presenters posed topics for further collaboration and/or in areas where they would benefit from additional expertise. Accompanying this was discussion specifically on enhancing collaboration and interaction among the marine LTER sites. These three LTER sites plan to continue their regular graduate symposium.