Meet Fellow APA Member Zachary Constan

What is your job title?

Outreach Coordinator

How long have you been at MSU?

I have been in this job for 11 years. I was also a grad student here for seven years.

Have you been a member of the APA the whole time?

Yes, have been an APA the whole time I have been a full-time employee.

What department do you work in, and can you tell me a little bit about what you do?

I work at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. My position is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the main objective is public education and outreach. I give tours of the lab, and I give talks, present at festivals, and run camps. I also assist faculty who want to do outreach. These are the core things I do.

Side things come up. I made a video game about nuclear science with the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab in Communication Arts and Sciences. We just submitted a grant to the NSF for creating a dance about nuclear science that we have been working on with the Wharton Center and a dance company. We are also working with Impression 5 Science Center and MSU Federal Credit Union to create an exhibit about nuclear science. We have a show at the MSU Planetarium with a virtual tour of the Cyclotron lab on the dome. I also train teachers where possible. I give them tools and information to equip them to teach nuclear science.

What brought you to your job at MSU?

I got a PhD in physics at MSU, and I loved my time here. I went away and taught for a few years somewhere else, but my wife saw this job come up. I didn’t know this kind of job existed. I did not know about this lab. I applied, and I got the job. I was done teaching. I loved it, but I knew what it was. I thought, “This opportunity is too strange not to try.” So I did, and here we are.

What do you love about working at MSU?

Number one is the people. I keep meeting amazing, interesting people from all over campus with different skill sets and goals. Together we can do what we can’t do independently. For example, I knew nothing about educational theory, so I teamed up with people in the College of Education. Also, being able to say we’re number one in nuclear science makes it easy to promote what we do. I totally believe in what we’re doing. This is awesome. If anyone wants to know more about the lab, please contact me. It is kind of a big deal for the university!   

What do you like to do when you are not at work?

I have three kids, which keeps me busy. We do a lot of scouting. We like traveling and exploring. I take the family with me whenever possible when I travel for work. We are also big into games—board games, role-playing games, and some video games. I collect and display LEGOs, and you will see some of the science-themed sets in my office: NASA, Ghostbusters, and The Big Bang Theory.