Everybody! We have a new TPS student in the program. Welcome aboard Zach Konkel. In the coming years, Zach will get to meet many scientists here at OSU. They will represent many departments, as well as different research, professional and personal interest. This is one of the reasons TPS is great. In order to get to know Zach I asked him the following.

Figure 1. Zach and his partner Rose road-tripped out to Columbus this summer. They were able to stop at many scenic locations along the way, including Jackson Hole. 

The Basics

Where are you from Zach?
I’m originally from the Oregon coast on the border of California, but spent my undergraduate and beyond in the Willamette Valley.

What did you major in as an undergraduate and where did you go to school?
I earned a BS in Biology with an ecology focus and chemistry minor at Oregon State University.

What types of jobs or work experiences have you had?
Prior to being an undergraduate I was a line chef for three years. During undergrad I mostly researched fungal natural products – specifically antibiotics active against MRSA. After graduation, I was a quality control chemist for the cannabis industry and then analyst/server at my brother’s restaurant.

The Important Stuff

When you are not doing science, what do you like to do?   
Snowboarding is bad(expletive) haha, but quickly expensive. I am big into playing and recording music – guitar and hand drums, backpacking and camping are great hobbies, and (though I curse a lot in the process) I love working on cars.

Favorite food?
Sushi hands downs

Favorite beer?
Hmmm. I dig the Hanalei IPA from Kona Brewing – it’s a passion fruit guava IPA.

Favorite author?        
Chuang-Tzu hands down

Favorite TV show?   
Better Call Saul at the moment, though I can go basic and also say Game of Thrones

Favorite podcast?      
What’s this Tao All About? A little extreme, but the central message is interesting.

Favorite type of music/band?
Radiohead, Iron & Wine, Trevor Hall, and Jack Johnson all day

Dream vacation?       
I love Hawaii – I think a summer (lifetime) farming in Kauai would satisfy me.

The Professional Stuff

What do you want to do when you grow up?
At this point, I see a professorship as ideal, but if I found the right business to start then I could entertain that.

Why did you choose the TPS program, and how did you learn about it?    
The program offers the flexibility and independence that I thrive with. My undergraduate PI let me create my own pathways to resolve research questions whereas my post graduation job treated me as a low level technician, only following directions– this contrast and my personality made me realize how important independence is to me and TPS speaks to that. I learned about the program because Professor Joey Spatafora at Oregon State directed me to Jason Slot due to our overlapping interests – Jason then presented TPS and everything fell into place within 4 weeks of that.

Who are you going to rotate with? Any additional experiences you would like to get (i.e if people saw this they could make suggestions for an additional rotation?     
I’m rotating with Professors Mitchell and Slot. Currently my interests are with the fungal neurochemicals Professor Slot works with and being creative with Cas9 – whether that be with epigenetic manipulation or viruses. I hope that some of my research with Cas9 will both be applicable for genomic research and medicine.

If you were going to choose one accomplishment to achieve in graduate school, what would be most important to you?      
Currently I’m set on productivity and publications. Because I’m interested in professorship, teaching experience is important as well.

If you were not an interdisciplinary mycologist/plant biologist, what field of science is your second favorite?
Bioengineering is awesome. I think the field will create dark dilemmas, but the contrasting possibilities are incredible as well.

Favorite scientist?     
I really appreciate how E.O. Wilson ties in the idea that we can extrapolate philosophy from biology, so I guess him – though he takes it a bit far sometimes...

I hope you all get a chance to talk with Zach (konkel.8@osu.edu) soon. He is a really nice person and I think he will do well in TPS. Good luck Zach!

Written by TPS fellow William Rolling
Twitter: BRRolling