Training Course Alliance with Clemson University and ORTEC

ORTEC Training Alliance With Clemson University

img19.jpg (23672 bytes) In an effort to provide customers with the finest, most up-to-date training experiences, ORTEC announces an alliance with Clemson University (Environmental Engineering and Science Department) to begin a series of courses in the fundamentals of radioactivity measurements. The first offering in the series entitled "Modern Methods in Alpha Spectrometry" is an extension of the long history of training course offered by ORTEC.

At ORTEC, we are excited to have forged this relationship with Clemson, recently ranked "College of the Year" in a Princeton Review article published in Time Magazine. The Environmental Engineering and Science program is undeniably one of the nations finest - maintaining nation-wide ranking of 17^th in this year's U. S. News and World Report rankings of environmental engineering programs

Faculty Oversight and Instruction

The venue for the courses is the Department of Engineering and Environmental Science at Clemson University (EES). EES is recognized as a leader in research concerning environmental radiochemistry and applications in radioactive waste, environmental health physics and environmental risk assessment. EES offers exceptional capabilities in the development of state-of-the art devices and systems for unique applications in radioactivity analysis.

The faculty includes Professors of Environmental Engineering and Science Jim Navratil, Tim DeVol, and Robert Fjeld.

Dr. Navratil's primary teaching and research interests are environmental radiochemistry and the chemistry of actinides as it applies to radiochemical separations, radioactive waste management, environmental restoration, and related areas.

Dr. DeVol's major teaching and research interests are in the detection and measurement of ionizing radiation in the environment. He teaches courses in radiation and health physics, ionizing radiation detection and radioactive waste management. His current research interests are in the areas of environmental monitoring of ionizing radiation and the usage of ionizing radiation for elemental analysis.

Dr. Fjeld's major teaching and research interests are in the environmental aspects of nuclear technologies. He teaches courses in radiation and health physics, radioactive waste management, radiation measurements, and risk assessment. In general, his research activities have focused on the transport and measurement of radionuclides in the environment. Current research projects include the development of a technique for measuring radionuclides in environmental and waste samples, studies on the behavior and sub-surface transport of radionuclides at Department of Energy sites, and the use of risk assessment in environmental decision-making. He has been teaching Environmental Risk Assessment at the graduate level for more than 15 years and has developed a set of instructional materials on the subject.

Guest Instructors

Instruction includes invited instructors to further enhance the training experience. The Fundamentals of Alpha Spectrometry course is prepared and conducted, in large part, by Dr. William Burnett (Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, a world-class, recognized expert in the fields of environmental radioactivity measurements, actinide geochemistry (both for naturally-occurring and anthropogenic radionuclides), Oceanography, and methods development for radioactivity analyses. Dr. Burnett has been conducting fundamentals of alpha spectrometry courses for more than a decade for institutions such as The National Physics Laboratory (United Kingdom) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).