Sarah Zack is the Great Lakes contaminants specialist with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG). She develops and conducts extension and outreach activities related to the prevention of aquatic pollution, raising awareness of the impacts of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, microplastics, PFAS, and other contaminants of emerging concern on water quality, human health, and aquatic ecosystems. She is also the co-coordinator of the Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference, held biannually on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

Sarah has been with IISG since 2011 and has worked to mitigate human impacts on freshwater resources in both the public and private sector for more than 20 years. She has a dual B.S. in zoology and biological conservation from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.S. in biology from Loyola University Chicago.