Six LSU Students Receive NRC Scholarship in Health Physics

A recent grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been established at LSU to support undergraduate students to explore careers in the radiation sciences through the field of health physics. LSU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy has announced the first recipients of the scholarship program in health physics:

• Joshua Campbell, chemical engineering

• Daniel DiMarco, physics

• Angelle Leger, mechanical engineering

• Brandon Luckett, physics

• Devin Manning, chemical engineering

• Gregory Martini, chemical engineering

Health physics is a field that focuses on protecting people and the environment from radiation hazards. This typically includes making measurements and calculations, providing radiation safety training, and developing new radiation instruments and software programs. Health physicists find careers in hospitals, research laboratories, universities, and nuclear facilities.

LSU’s Medical Physics and Health Physics Program offers scholarships of $5000 each to fund undergraduate students in STEM fields who are interested in exploring careers in the radiation sciences. To be eligible to apply, students must be a full-time student enrolled at LSU A&M or Southern University in Baton Rouge and maintain a 3.0 grade point average.

LSU Professors Wayne Newhauser and Wei-Hsung Wang received a federal grant to fund the scholarship program. According to Newhauser, “LSU is truly fortunate to have received more than $1M in funding from the NRC to support our education and research programs in health physics in the last year. In fact, the six student awardees are just the first wave of a larger cohort of undergraduates who will be supported. We will award approximately 18 additional undergraduate scholarships in the next year or so and encourage interested students to apply. We also received grants from the NRC to support graduate students and to hire two new faculty members. The demand for radiation professional is strong and will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Nationally, there are many great career opportunities for young people in the radiation sciences, including specialties in health care, the environment, national security, and nuclear power. Locally, LSU has strong programs in radiation science and Louisiana needs radiation professionals.”

For more information on the LSU scholarship program in health physics, email Dr. Wayne Newhauser at newhauser@lsu.edu.