Nathan Putnam - Recipient of the 2004 Alabama Coastal Foundation Scholarship
Article by Carlie Kollath, Public Relations Intern

As a self-described “biology nerd,” Nathan Putnam, a junior biology and marine science major at the University of Alabama, first came to the Sea Lab on a seventh grade middle school trip.

This summer, Putman took a variety of college courses as the recipient of the 2004 Alabama Coastal Foundation Scholarship.  He became a fan of the Sea Lab’s approach to marine science education: "[The] material was really interesting and presented in the best way possible. It’s less about memorizing and more about following energy around. It’s a different approach than I’ve ever had in a class.'

‘You’ll learn a lot in a summer at the Sea Lab. It’ll give you a heightened awareness for the world around you."

Putnam had such a fun and productive summer that he wants to come back next year to take oceanography and be a teaching assistant in the very marine biology course he attended this year.  “Now that I’ve taken the class, I want to be Dr. Miller-Way (instructor for the 2004 Marine Biology course from the University of Mobile). She’s my hero. I didn’t want to teach, but now I do. Ask her anything and she has an answer that makes sense and is real knowledgeable about anything in the ocean. That’s what I want to be, except I don’t want to study worms.”