Getting to Know Zac!
Zachary Loughman, Ph.D., has had a lifelong passion for animals, focusing on often-overlooked species... but he has now found a way to bring them to the spotlight!
Zac earned his undergraduate degree from West Liberty State College, graduating in 2002 with a B.S. in Biology. Zac then pursued a Master's in Biology at Marshall University, where he was a member of Dr. Tom Pauley’s Herpetology Conservation lab, serving as a field technician on several herpetological surveys. During a salamander survey, Loughman discovered burrowing crayfish were being trapped in traps set for salamanders. Zac spent more time nerding out trying to identify the crayfish than he did focused on taking data on the salamanders. Ultimately, this survey sparked his fascination with these intriguing crustaceans. Crayfish became the focus of his Ph.D., which Zac completed in 2011 at Indiana State University.
In 2006, Dr. Loughman began teaching at his alma mater, now known as West Liberty University, where he was tasked with establishing an Environmental Science concentration. Fast forward to today, and now West Liberty University offers several organismal biology majors and has a graduate biology program, where Zac serves as Co-Chair of Biological Sciences and Co-Graduate Coordinator for the Biology Department. Dr. Loughman also oversees the University’s undergraduate and graduate degrees in Zoo Science. Dr. Loughman serves as P.I. for two research labs at West Liberty University. The first is the Crayfish Conservation Lab, which centers on crayfish conservation, natural history, and systematics. This lab has described over 15 new species of crayfish, published more than 75 peer-reviewed articles, and helped train several aspiring crayfish conservationists.
Loughman's second lab, the Applied Herpetology and Herpetoculture Laboratory, is a more recent endeavor that currently supports various graduate and undergraduate students and has numerous publications. Loughman has authored one book, “The Natural History and Captive Care of False Water Cobras, Barons Racers, Mussuranas, and other Xenodontine Snakes”, and currently is working on “The Complete Hog-Nosed Snake” with his coauthor, Jon Rice.
While Dr. Loughman values research, his true passion lies in educating others in the field, in the classroom, and through online and podcast platforms. Zac has received several educational honors, including the Noble Crayfish Award from the International Association of Astacology and the title of Professor of the Year for West Virginia in 2014. Zac lives in northern West Virginia with his wife, Kathy, their son, Colin, their dog, Wallace, and several reptiles.
