This class throws students into the deep end

Throughout Tim Malone’s 20-plus years as a part-time scuba diving instructor at Carolina, one common moment in his beginner’s course never gets old.

“A student will look so scared when they start,” he said. “Then they do a skill for the first time, and they just have this huge smile on their face. Of course, their mask becomes filled with water because they smiled, and then they have to take care of that.”

Underwater smiles and newfound skills are two constants in PHYA 227, the exercise and sport science course that prepares students for safe and enjoyable participation in recreational diving. They learn the physiology of diving, first aid and decompression.

Instructor Tim Malone (center) gives directions to his scuba diving students at Bowman Gray Memorial Pool on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

After a semester’s worth of work — in Bowman Gray Memorial Pool and the classroom — students can travel to Key Largo, Florida, with their instructors (Malone co-teaches with Clay Revels and Jerry Muir) to test for a certification from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.

In December 2025, after final exams, around 40 students across three sections of Malone’s course took the trip and earned open-water or advanced certifications.

“The trip was incredible,” said Aidan Murphy, a junior economics major. “I was thankfully able to get my certification and even had the opportunity to go on a couple dives afterwards with other students.”

Murphy became interested in the course when he heard about it in his junior year. He wanted to learn a new skill and also saw a potential connection to his marine sciences minor. He’s curious about opportunities to use his diving skills either at the UNC Center for Galapagos Studies or in Morehead City, North Carolina, where the University has a field site.

Murphy said the class was “a blast.” He was surprised how much science and math were involved. For instance, he and his classmates learned about dive tables, calculations divers make to determine how long they can remain underwater at a given depth to avoid potential decompression sickness.

Students in PHYA 227 learn everything from properly using equipment to performing advanced dives. Following the semester, they can travel with their instructors to Key Largo, Florida, to test for a certification from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. (Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill)

There are also lessons in physics, safety, dive planning and first aid. In the pool, the course progresses from basics like correctly using equipment and standing in the water to more advanced diving techniques.

Like Murphy, senior Amanda Gilleland hopes to connect her diving with research. She’s majoring in biology, studying marine sciences and working as an aquarist at Discovery Place, a science museum in Charlotte.

She hadn’t dived since she became certified as a middle-schooler and wanted to refine her skills. “This class goes a lot more in-depth than my initial certification did back when I was a kid,” Gilleland said. “We go into more of the theory and the history of diving.”

Of course, many students take the course simply because they want to learn a new skill that opens an underwater world of possibilities. Malone first became enthralled with scuba when he took a similar class at NC State University. He views the course he teaches as a leading example of the idea that learning comes in many forms at Carolina.

“This is one of those skills that you learn and, like a lot of other physical skills, can use throughout your whole life,” said Malone, whose favorite diving trips have been at Bonaire in the Caribbean and off the coast of North Carolina.

“You can do it and can come back to it later; you can do it on vacation or whenever you want to. It’s a nice hobby on the side. I think it is a surprise for students to see that everything’s not just rigid academics.”

View more photos from the class below and click to enlarge.