The National Marine Educators Association recognized Dr. Tina Miller-Way’s dedication to enhancing marine science lessons with the 2024 Individual National Marine Education Award. Dr. Miller-Way serves as Discovery Hall Programs Chair at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and is instrumental in developing materials and activities educators nationwide utilize.

Dr. Miller-Way helped grow the STEM programs at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, including using remotely operated vehicles to teach about deep sea exploration and ocean engineering. Today, DISL’s STEM programs include academic-year field trips, summer camps, the Northern Gulf Coast Regional ROV Competition, and the Regional SeaPearch ROV Competition.

She also advocates using art to enhance visualization in marine science lessons and hands-on activities.

“This is a wonderful honor to receive,” DISL Executive Director Dr. John Valentine said when hearing about the honor. “In every way, I can think of it, Dr. Miller-Way scores 10s in all of the boxes an educator is evaluated in. As DISL, we have known of her acumen in the classroom for some time in the State of Alabama, and now the nation recognizes it!”

During the conference, Dr. Miller-Way presented the Postcards from the Past STEAM project, which is a collaboration with Dr. Paul Harnik of Colgate University. As part of this project, participants expressed their watershed impressions through an art activity that formed the background of their postcards.

In addition to chairing Discovery Hall, Dr. Miller-Way leads the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium Education Team and is a part of the National Sea Grant Education Network. Her focus is on internship and professional learning programs for educators.