Zachary Slimak ’22

Biography

Zach Slimak provides support for students seeking and participating in research opportunities on and off Oberlin’s campus, especially those students interested in STEM. He also works to expand STEM undergraduate research opportunities and programming. 

Slimak works closely with many of the Office of Undergraduate Research’s cohort programs, including the Science and Technology Research Opportunities for a New Generation (STRONG), Roots in STEM, Oberlin College Research Fellowship (OCRF), and the Oberlin Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (OSURF). These programs support students from underrepresented backgrounds in their research pursuits and research skill development and promote diversity and sense of belonging among a range of student identities in a variety of quantitative fields at Oberlin.

Slimak was raised in Oberlin and graduated from Oberlin College with degrees in biology and neuroscience. He conducted research in the biology department investigating somatic mutations in plants using the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. He earned high honors in neuroscience, in which he investigated the effect of musical experience and autism symptomatology on the encoding of dynamic temporal audiovisual information. During his time at Oberlin, he enjoyed working with peers and mentoring students. In addition, he worked with the Biology and Neuroscience Majors Committee to implement peer support events and community building activities. Outside of work, Slimak enjoys playing with his golden retriever August and raising chickens, ducks, and rabbits. He also spends time working with 4-H participants in Lorain County and coaching academic quiz bowl teams.