Nathan started studying birds at the age of 14. After earning a B.A. from Carleton College, he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to follow Hudsonian Godwits on their annual migration from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America & back. He continued this research while pursuing his PhD at Cornell University with Dr. Fitzpatrick. From there, he traveled across the Atlantic for a postdoc with Dr. Piersma at the University of Groningen studying the flexibility of Black-tailed Godwit.