Facilitators

Judith Coats has excelled in a multifaceted career spanning 30 years leading formal and informal marine science education programs, science writing content for educational publications, crafting conservation messaging and marketing for a leading zoological society, and producing on-line wildlife-based informative materials. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Aquatic Biology from UC Santa Barbara and a Master of Science in Science Education from Montana State University. 

Active in NOAA Ocean Exploration since the early 2000s, Judith has facilitated teacher professional workshops at leading institutional science learning centers around the country. At Birch Aquarium at Scripps, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, she led the National Ocean Science Bowl’s regional Grunion Bowl competition for six years. Also at Birch Aquarium, she created new marine science programming for grades K to 8, both on-site and outreach to local schools. Her favorite topic is ancient deep-sea corals.

Dr. Miller-Way works at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in southern Alabama where she chairs their experiential outdoor education program known as Discovery Hall. The Sea Lab has hosted NOAA Ocean Exploration workshops since 2008 and Tina has facilitated these workshops for much of the past decade. Tina holds a doctorate in Oceanography and Coastal Studies from Louisiana State University and a Masters in Oceanography from Oregon State University.  Her research interests focus on marine invertebrates. She taught in academia for more than a decade, including classes working with pre-service and in-service teachers, before entering the field of informal education full time.  In her time with Discovery Hall, Tina started an informal education STEM program focused on remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) which has now grown to include field classes, 2 annual student ROV competitions, teacher workshops, a ROV lending program and other STEM engineering classes. She also serves as the Assistant Director of Education for Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, serves on the board of Alabama iSTEM (informal STEM) and as state Co-Lead for the Gulf of America Alliance Education & Engagement Team.  Most recently, Tina was awarded Marine Educator of the Year by the National Marine Educators Association. Through her career, Tina has lived on all four U.S. coasts.  She has been fascinated by the deep ocean since the time lapse photos of baited camera in the 1950s and 1960s and dreams of visiting brine pools and hydrothermal vents in a submersible.

Tami has facilitated professional learning with NOAA Ocean Exploration since 2009. It continues to be one of her favorite education “hats” that she wears, because of the enthusiasm and passion the participants share during the workshops as they learn new content and activities to build curiosity and scientific skills in their students. She especially loves learning something new every season about the incredible diversity of life in the deep sea. As the K-12 Science Senior Team Leader at Newark Charter School in Newark, Delaware, Tami Lunsford teaches AP Biology and Marine Science half time and coaches other science teachers half time. She has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a Biology concentration from the University of Delaware, and a Master’s Degree in Marine Science from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary. Throughout her career, she has taught at several types of high schools across the U.S., been a university and a community college professor, and coordinated professional development at the University of Hawaii and the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, run the MATE Technical Internship Program, including on UNOLS vessels around the world.  She has served on the Board of Directors, including serving as President, for both the National Marine Educators Association and Mid-Atlantic Marine Education Association. Tami was also awarded the Milken Educator Award in 2017 and is the only Milken Educator ever awarded in the state of Delaware.

Dr. Greely provides expertise in the areas of biological oceanography, ecological physiology, marine fishes, and ocean science education. As a marine biologist the first half of her career she studied coastal, midwater and deep-sea fishes. As an ocean educator she has broad research interests which encompass teaching and training about the ocean sciences in three areas: graduate and undergraduate education, teacher education, and ocean literacy amongst youth. She currently coordinates four education programs: The Oceanography Camp especially for Girls (OCG), the In-service Teacher Oceanography Workshops (In-TOW), the National Ocean Sciences Bowl’s regional Spoonbill Bowl competition, and the Coastal Ecology & Geology Field trips. In addition to teaching natural sciences and science education courses, Dr. Greely also developed a series of graduate courses focused on teaching and communicating ocean sciences. Programs and courses are designed to teach science parallel to the way science is practiced in a research setting: courses are inquiry-based, experiential, and learner guided.

Dr. Greely’s current research encompasses ocean literacy and reasoning about ocean issues by determining the influence of content, experience, and decision-making. One of Teresa’s favorite activities each year is facilitating the NOAA Ocean Exploration workshops in Florida and sharing these consistently high-quality, informative, and fun resources. The deep-sea environment launched her research and education career, and now she has had the joy of sharing ocean explorations with educators in Florida through NOAA’s workshops since the early 2010s.

Lyndsey wears multiple hats working in both formal and nonformal science education sectors. She has undergraduate degrees in Wildlife Biology and Science Education and an MS in Natural Resources (Environmental Education). She holds a Lead Professional Educator License with Master Teacher Certification and a Teacher Leader Endorsement. Lyndsey has been the Science and Engineering Curriculum Specialist for Westerville City Schools (Ohio) for 11 years; prior to that she taught high school science for 15 years. She currently coordinates all aspects of curriculum and instruction for grades 6-12 science and engineering classes. From 2008-2024, Lyndsey was also an Education Specialist for Ohio Sea Grant. She led many of the efforts related to Great Lakes literacy, developed curriculum, facilitated teacher professional learning opportunities at OSU’s Stone Laboratory and other Great Lakes science facilities, and was involved in grant writing and program evaluation initiatives across the basin. Lyndsey began collaborating with NOAA Ocean Exploration on a variety of curriculum, professional learning and website development initiatives in 2019. She has been facilitating NOAA Ocean Exploration workshops since 2024. Even though she is from a midwestern state, Lyndsey is passionate about marine and aquatic education. Facilitating these workshops allows her to showcase why ocean literacy is important whether you live inland or on a coast, and she is dedicated to building teachers’ confidence to teach about the deep ocean.

Makenzie is the Lab Manager & Outreach Coordinator for Dr. Mya Breitbart’ lab at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science (CMS). She works on various lab projects, but her specialty is DNA barcoding of fish eggs. This technique allows for molecular identification of fish eggs down to the species level, locating spawning grounds for broadcast spawners. Makenzie is also the Program Coordinator for CMS Education and Outreach programs, including coastal field trips, Oceanography Camp especially for Girls, NOSB Spoonbill Bowl, St. Pete Science Festival, and more. Starting in 2021, Makenzie began facilitating the NOAA Ocean Exploration workshops in Florida alongside Dr. Teresa Greely. While most of her research is in coastal zones, she loves to learn about all the amazing adaptations of deep-sea creatures and their extreme environments. Her favorite deep-sea critter is the viperfish, which has menacing teeth, but only grows to about a foot long.

Michael J. Gutiérrez Santiago is an environmental science educator from Isabela, Puerto Rico. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a major in Secondary Science Education and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Environmental Management and Planning. He currently teaches environmental science in Puerto Rico’s public education system. With over five years of experience in science education, Michael previously served as Head Educator at the EcoExploratorio Puerto Rico Science Museum, leading initiatives in ocean exploration, meteorology, earthquakes, natural hazard resilience, and space science. His professional experience includes participation in NOAA Teacher at Sea aboard the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada, contributing to the Pacific hake survey, and NASA’s OCEANOS internship program, supporting environmental monitoring, water quality sampling, and coral restoration. Since 2023, he has served as a facilitator for NOAA Ocean Exploration workshops, supporting educator professional development by connecting deep-sea science with classroom instruction. His favorite deep-sea topics include hydrothermal vents, deep-sea corals, and ocean mapping, and a particularly rewarding aspect of his facilitation work has been helping educators connect NOAA Ocean Exploration missions and data to real-world applications in science education.