Jake C. Zappala is an Assistant Physicist at the Trace Radioisotope Analysis CentER (TRACER) in the Physics Division, where he continues to develop the Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA) technique for both existing and novel applications. His research interests include ultra-sensitive trace-isotope analysis, atom trapping for nuclear science applications, and tracer-based modeling for hydrological transport.

Jake received his Ph.D. in 2017 from the University of Chicago, where he was awarded the Winstein Prize in 2017 from the Physics Department at the University of Chicago for outstanding work in instrumentation. His work helped to advanced radiokrypton dating through the ATTA technique by setting a new upper limit on anthropogenic ⁸¹Kr contributions to the atmosphere and developing a rapid-processing method for ⁸⁵Kr-dating. He continued his work on ATTA at Argonne as a Postdoctoral Appointee, where he assisted in establishing the TRACER Center and also led research to determine the absolute ⁸¹Kr/Kr abundance in the modern atmosphere. 

He has been an Assistant Physicist at Argonne since February 2020.