Zack

I was born and raised in a small, central Illinois town of about 3,500 people. I grew up living in the same small house with my parents, two brothers and sister until I went off to college in 1984.
I received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry and Physical Chemistry at SIU Carbondale. Much of my thesis work (infrared spectroscopy of asymmetric rotor molecules) was published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society and the Journal of Chemical Physics. Probably my greatest research achievement in chemistry was being the first person to ever create, isolate and study a very small molecule which recently has garnered the attention and interest of NASA.
In 1990, I was chosen for a research internship at Argonne National Laboratory's Chemistry Division. After graduating from SIU, I applied for and was accepted into the PhD program at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. There I completed doctoral coursework requirements and cumulative examinations (as well as some original research involving the spectroscopy of H-bonded molecular clusters) before entering the "real world".
My first professional/career job after leaving the university was with a successful and growing North American polymer/plastics company. Thirteen years later, I am still there. We now have locations around the world. I started out working in the laboratory and was promoted several times - ultimately to Chemist & Multi-Site Quality Systems Manager. The region I work in extends from Chicago down to central Louisiana - which means that some travelling is necessary. Because of this, I have met many great and interesting people and have seen many amazing sights.
My job also provides me with the opportunity to "dabble" in the various scientific interests of mine. I utilize modern laboratory equipment to analyze important materials, unknown samples, or to try and get to the root cause of a particular issue.
In 2004, I received my first United States Patent for an automated laser inspection system. To help keep my mind "sharp", I teach physics courses at the local college - as my schedule permits. Roughly half of my students are university students simply wanting a smaller classroom environment.
In 2005, NASA invited me to work with them and two other government agencies in probing a huge molecular cloud near the center of our galaxy for the presence of the same small molecule that I first created, isolated and studied while at SIU. It seems that this molecule is considered to be a potentially important biomolecule since it is the smallest stable (yet highly reactive) molecule that also contains H, C, O, and N. These four elements are the building blocks of life - at least life as we know it.
Therefore, I have been blessed to work with this incredible team of scientists over the past couple of years. We used the state-of-the-art Green Bank Telescope which is located in the mountains of West Virginia. I was told that it is the largest, mobile, man-made object on earth. The receiving mirror alone has a diameter of 110 meters!
Our team's research effort proved to be extremely successful - not only did we detect interstellar cyanoformaldehyde in the star and planet forming region, we also found that it is spatially widespread and provides objective evidence for how other molecular species already known to exist in the same region were formed. Our paper was just published in the Astrophysical Journal on March 8, 2008. In 2009, we plan to study 10 different regions of our galaxy for the presence of this same molecule.
In addition to my scientific endeavors, I also do a fair amount of professional photography. Since 1990, I have photographed and worked with numerous celebrities, sports icons, models and musicians. Since I have only been shooting with a hi-res digital camera for a little over a year, I will need to go back and systematically digitize thousands of negatives from my old film cameras.
As for sports, the most notable personalities that I have photographed include: Michael Jordan, Walter Payton, Ryne Sandberg, Ozzie Smith, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Tony Stewart, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Lou Brock, Andre Dawson, Lee Smith, etc.
Since 2006, I have worked with LeBron James at his King's Academy basketball camps. It has been alot of fun and I look forward to doing it for years to come. He and his friends from Akron are just alot of fun to be around. If you have a child age 8 - 18 who would like to attend the summer camp, go to LeBronJamesKingsAcademy.com.
After being so incredibly fortunate to have photographed MJ from 1990 to 2001 (minus the baseball years), I never thought I would again work closely with a basketball player of such high caliber and potential. I guess lightning can actually strike twice.
In 2002, I married a girl that I would never have even met had it not been for my work in photography. I met the girl that would become my wife when a platinum-selling band (SheDaisy) invited me to a private concert they were filming for a television program called All Access Live. The band's record label (Disney's Lyric Street Records) had previously signed me to a contract to take concert photos and candids of them for publicity purposes. As it turned out, my future wife was friends with the band and would also be invited to this filming. The rest - you could say - is history.
Vacation Update: Let it be known far and wide that on March 24th, 2009 there was a STORK in the White House. Actually, a pair of Storks were in the White House, the US Capitol (and its underground tunnels...lol), and all 5 rings of the Pentagon. My wife and I spent a week in DC and had a great time.