Thomas Zachariah (Zac) Ward obtained his BS degree from the University of Missouri in 2004 and entered graduate school in Physics at the University of Tennessee in 2005. Zac took a very circuitous route to a career in research and pysics. His first undergraduate degree was in creative writing. He spent several years backpacking and hitchhiking around the world (see figure at right). Along the way, he tried many professions: a steel working in Colorado, a ski lift operator in Australia, a junior high school English teacher in Japan. However, none of the travel or various jobs was ever able hold his attention for very long. Fortunately for all he has now become a first rate physicist. His thesis work was done at ORNL with Dr. Jian Shen exploring Emergent Phenomena is Spatially Confined manganites. The following are some his most significant publications as a student.

“Giant Discrete Steps in Metal-Insulator Transition in Perovskite Manganite Wires,” Hong-Ying Zhai, J. X. Ma, D. T. Gillaspie, X. G. Zhang, T. Z. Ward, E. W. Plummer, and J. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 167201 (2006).

“Reemergent Metal-Insulator Transitions in Manganites Exposed with Spatial Confinement,” T. Z. Ward, S. H. Liang, K. Fuchigami, L. F. Yin, E. Dagotto, E. W. Plummer, and J. Shen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 247204 (2008).

“Tunable Metalicity at La5/8Ca3/8MnO3(001) Surface by Oxygen Overlayer,” K. Fuchigami, Z. Gai, T. Z. Ward, L. F. Yin, P.C. Snijders, E. W. Plummer, and J. Shen, submitted Phys. Rev Letters 102, 66104 (2009).

“Time-Resolved Electronic Phase Transitions in Manganites,” T. Z. Ward, X. G. Zhang, L. F. Yin, X. Q. Zhang, Ming Liu, P. C. Snijders, S. Jesse, E. W. Plummer, Z. H. Cheng, and J. Shen, Phys. Rev. Letters 102, 087201 (2009).

He has received several awards for his thesis work. The 2008 award given by the American Physical society (GMAG) for the Outstanding Dissertation in Magnetism. The Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Award and a Silver Medal Leo Falicov Award Finalist for 2008 presented by American Vacuum Society (AVS). After graduation he received a prestigious Wigner Fellowship at ORNL. He is now a staff scientist at ORNL.

The picture to the left shows the scientist Zac Ward at work in the clean room at ORNL. It is not obvious that this is a better environment than the picture at the top.