Zach is the associate director of the Nuclear Science Center (NSC) and the NUCS Core Facility. He started with the NSC in May of 2021 and is the main contact regarding the operations and usage of the NUCS Core Facility and oversees the research side of the NSC. Zach currently operates and trains users in gamma and X-ray spectroscopy for usage of the gamma, XAFS (X-ray Absorption Fine Structure), and SAXS (Small Angle X-ray Scattering) spectrometers, in addition to the single crystal X-ray diffractometer, powder X-ray diffractometer, the dynamic light scattering instrument, and the NMR spectrometers. Zach has a background in chemistry (Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign) and chemical engineering (B.S in 2004 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison). Zach is motivated to grow the NUCS Core Facility and promote the NSC’s mission in Teaching and Research.

Recent Publications

• Heiden, Z. M.; Kazi, Z.; Cree, W.; Mann, N.; Hines, C. C.; Green, A. R.; Redmore, N. Using radioactive material to evaluate decontamination of contaminated electronics. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 2025, doi:10.1007/s10967-025-10453-z
• Benedict, R. J.; Heiden, Z. M.; Stephens, D. N.; Arulsamy, N.; Mock, M. T. Catalytic NH3 Oxidation to N2 by Hydrogen Atom Abstraction using a Low-valent Molybdenum Complex. Chemical Communications, 2025, 61, 10315-10318.
• Tiwari, L.; Heiden, Z. M.; Waynant, K. V. Exploring the electronic influence on coordination complexes formed from appended pyrrolidine azothioformamide ligands and copper(I) salts. Journal of Molecular Structure 2025, 1320, 139740.
• Tiwari, L.; Leach, C.; Williams, A.; Lighter, B.; Heiden, Z.; Roll, M. F.; Moberly, J. G.; Cornell, K. A.; Waynant, K. V. Binding Mechanisms and Therapeutic Activity of Heterocyclic Substituted Arylazothioformamide Ligands and Their Cu(I) Coordination Complexes. ACS Omega 2024, 9, 37141-37154.
• Heiden, Z. M.; Hines, C. C.; Mann, N. R.; Buntman, S. Investigation of candidates for reactor produced radioactive materials in support of radiological training exercises. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 2024, 333, 1231-1241.
• Vavrek, J. R.; Hines, C. C.; Bandstra, M. S.; Hellfeld, D.; Heine, M. A.; Heiden, Z. M.; Mann, N. R.; Quiter, B. J.; Joshi, T. H. Y. Surrogate distributed radiological sources II: aerial measurement campaign. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 2024, 1-1.
• Riley, B. J.; Beck, C. L.; Evarts, J. S.; Chong, S.; Lines, A. M.; Felmy, H. M.; McFarlane, J.; Andrews, H. B.; Bryan, S. A.; McHugh, K. C.; Andrews, H. B.; Bryan, S. A.; McHugh, K. C.; Cunningham, H. S.; Asmussen, R. M.; Dhas, J. A.; Zhu, Z.; Crum, J. V.; Shen, S. D.; McCloy, J. S.; Heiden, Z. M. Analytical capabilities for iodine detection: Review of possibilities for different applications. AIP Advances 2024, 14, 080701.
• Lere-Adams, A. J.; Dixon Wilkins, M. C.; Bollinger, D.; Stariha, S.; Farzana, R.; Dayal, P.; Gregg, D. J.; Chong, S.; Riley, B. J.; Heiden, Z. M.; McCloy, J. S. Glass-bonded ceramic waste forms for immobilization of radioiodine from caustic scrubber wastes. Journal of Nuclear Materials 2024, 591, 154938.