Sarah Zack is the pollution prevention extension 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, and other contaminants of emerging concern on water quality, human health, and aquatic ecosystems. These activities include working with the NOAA Marine Debris program to implement the Marine Debris Action Plan in the Lake Michigan coastal waters of Illinois and Indiana, assisting communities in developing unwanted medicine take-back programs, and leading development of the 10-Year Water Resources Vision for National Sea Grant Program. She is also the co-coordinator of the Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference, held annually on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

Since joining IISG in 2011, Sarah has received multiple awards, including the APEX Award for Publication Excellence (2014 and 2020), an Outstanding Service Award from the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service (2016), and the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Early Career Award (2019).

Sarah 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.