Zach is a PhD candidate in the department with primary research interests in energy politics, democracy, and market reforms in South Africa. His dissertation uses the country’s ongoing electricity crisis as a site from which to examine the disappointments of post-apartheid democracy and economic development, arguing that the contradictions within the energy system are indicative of broader contradictions in the country's politics and political economy. He uses this analysis to make broader arguments about the complexities and dynamics of postcolonial democracy and economic development. In the course of his research, he draws on archival, interview, and ethnographic research.

His research has been supported by the department, the Committee on African Studies, the Center for International Social Science Research, the Center for Environment, Globalization and Urbanization, and the Pozen Center for Human Rights, as well as the US Department of Education and Fulbright-Hays.