Zac Carpenter, MS is a learning & memory expert across cognitive-behavioral psychology, molecular and computational neuroscience, and neuroethics. He has published academic research on the effects of timed testing and outcome pressure in the field of cognitive psychology, elucidating the effects on explicit working memory. He has thoroughly studied the astrocyte glia cell of the brain -the “teacher” cell: its physiology, function, the systems it is involved in, and systemic effects it has within the central nervous system. He has studied the MAPK gene through the lens of the astrocyte -specifically, the dysregulation of the gene expression creating an immortalized astrocyte and a pilocytic astrocytoma. He has studied and presented on the neuroethical and epigenetic effects of inherited trauma: i.e. the heritability of trauma from distressful events. He has working academic publications on a neurological case study of a pilocytic astrocytoma and the training involved in its systemic recovery, the tripartite synapse and its effects on long-term potentiation long-term depression, and the mesiotemporal thalamus. He has expertise in mindful meditation, fitness techniques -including yoga, aerobics, calisthenics, long-distance cardiovascular training, breath work, powerlifting, and strongman-, conventional and guttural vocal and singing techniques, the effects of both positive stress -eustress- and negative stress -distress- on how we learn in our environments and how that learning affects our perceptions of our environments. He has studied the systemic effects of perceptions and perspectives through historical, political, scientific, cultural, and socioeconomic lenses leading to the collectivist and bidirectional communications he espouses in this company. He is a member of the class of 2024 Marquis Who’s Who in America; a lifelong learner; worked in retail management; security leadership & corporate warehouse structure; has a BA in psychology from the Ohio University-Zanesville with a focus in physiology, research, and cognition; an MS in neuroscience from the University of Hartford with a focus in research, clinical studies, ethical implications, and computation; an AS equivalent criminal justice certification from the Mid-East Career and Technology Center; a certification in computational neuroscience from the Neuromatch Academy. He grew up in Appalachia, in a family of artisans and trade workers. They taught him how to draw, paint, candle-make, wood burn, fermentation techniques, drywalling, roofing, plumbing, book keeping, instilled a love of knowledge consumption through books and media, computer science, electrical work, gardening techniques, carpentry, and, above all of it, they taught him how to have fun while doing it. 

Zac applied all of the above to the recovery of both his mental and physical health leading to his spiritual fulfillment. He was diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma when he was 12, in 2003. This is when his career trajectory began. He consumed as much research as he could: anthropology, sociology, psychology, physiology, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, and everything in between. He went through three neurosurgeries of the tumor in his left lateral ventricle when he was 16, and two when he was 18, in 2007, 2009, and 2010. He has been a lifelong fitness and science enthusiast, and used that knowledge in tandem with his medical team to guide his systemic recovery.