Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 263, No. 1 (2005) 155–158
The Department of Energy/American Chemical Society Summer School in Nuclear and Radiochemistry at San José State University W. F. Kinard,1 H. B. Silber2 1 Department
2 Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, USA of Chemistry and Nuclear Science Facility, San José State University, San José, CA 95192, USA (Received April 6, 2004)
A Summer School in Nuclear Chemistry sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy and the American Chemical Society has been held at San José State University for the past 20 years. The intent of the program is to introduce outstanding college students to the field of nuclear and radiochemistry with the goal that some of these students will consider careers on nuclear science. The program features radiochemistry experiments along with radiation safety training, guest lectures by well known nuclear scientists and field trips to nuclear chemistry facilities in the San Francisco area.
Introduction The summer of 2003 marked the 20 th year that the Department of Energy/American Chemical Society Summer School in Nuclear and Radiochemistry will be held at San José State University (SJSU) in San José, California. It will also be the 15th year of the Nuclear Summer School at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Nearly 400 undergraduate students have attended these Nuclear Summer Schools, which feature intensive instruction in nuclear and radiochemistry in both the classroom and the laboratory. A history of the first ten years of the Nuclear Summer School program was written by Dr. J. R. PETERSON and published in 1997.1 This article will update some of the history of the program at San José State University (SJSU) and provide some additional information about the program. In 1977, the Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology of the American Chemical Society expressed a concern about the number of graduate students studying nuclear and radiochemistry. It was determined that this problem could only be met by increasing the opportunities for graduate study by supporting new faculty positions and increasing the interest of undergraduates in the field. Through the singular efforts of Dr. PATRICIA A. BAISDEN of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, funding was obtained for an undergraduate summer school experience in nuclear and radiochemistry and the first class was held at SJSU in the summer of 1984. Dr. ALAN LING and Dr. RUTH YAFFE of SJSU were the primary academic instructors in the course and Mr. ROGER KLOEPPING, the Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) at SJSU, was very active with the students. In these early years of the program, Dr. BAISDEN served as what is now known as the National Director and Dr. LING was the SJSU Site Director.
Dr. PETER ENGLERT, a SJSU faculty member and now Chancellor of the University of Hawaii-Manoa was an instructor at the SJSU Summer School from 1987 to 1993 and served as the SJSU Site Director and Principal Instructor in 1994 and 1995. After ROGER KLOEPPING left SJSU, Mr. NORMAN MCELROY became the RSO and supported the Summer School. In 1995, Dr. JOE PETERSON of the University of Tennessee assumed the post of National Director. In 1996 Dr. ROBERT SILVA of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) took over as the Principal Instructor at SJSU and Dr. HERBERT SILBER of the SJSU chemistry faculty was named the Site Director. Also in 1996, JOHN PICKERING, became the Radiation Safety Officer at SJSU and has taught the Radiation Safety component of the SJSU Nuclear Summer School since that time. Dr. FRANK KINARD of the College of Charleston (SC) began lecturing in the program in 1997 and became the Principal Instructor in 1999. In 2002, Dr. SUE CLARK of Washington State University took over from JOE PETERSON as the National Director of the Nuclear Summer Schools Program. In 1995, Dr. CAROLYN ANDERSON, an Associate Professor of Radiology at the Washington University in St. Louis Medical School and a student in the first summer school class in 1984 became a regular lecturer in the nuclear medicine portion of the SJSU program. Dr. HENRY VANBROCKLIN of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL) Nuclear Medicine and Functional Imaging group became associated with the program in 1999 and has shared the nuclear medicine teaching duties with Dr. ANDERSON. “Nuclear Medicine Week” has become a permanent part of the academic program with formal lectures, nuclear medicine laboratories, a field trip to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory positron emission tomography (PET) facilities, and a Friday afternoon lecture program with invited speakers.
* E-mail:
[email protected] 0236–5731/2005/USD 20.00 © 2005 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest
Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Springer, Dordrecht
W. F. KINARD, H. B. SILBER: THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY SUMMER SCHOOL
The Nuclear Summer School students are all housed in the SJSU International House, a dormitory facility next to the main campus that houses international students. Interactions with these students from all over the world have proved to be a culturally broadening experience for the Nuclear Summer School students over the years of the program. The program also requires a series of Saturday field trips to places like San Francisco tourist and museum attractions, Santa Cruz redwood and beach parks, and the Monterey Aquarium. The lodging arrangements and field trips help the students to bond together and give them a cohesiveness that is one of the great strengths of the program. Throughout the lifetime of the program, the students have continued to interact and support each other after they return to home institutions and on into their graduate careers. The lecture portion of the SJSU Summer School covers the following major topics: The origins of nuclear science Nuclei, isotopes and isotope separation Nuclear mass and stability Unstable nuclei Radionuclides in nature Absorption of nuclear radiation Radiation effects on matter Detection and measurement techniques Applications of radioactive tracers Cosmic radiation and elementary nuclear particles Nuclear structure Nuclear power – nuclear waste Formation of the elements. In recent years, the daily 3–4 hour lectures are presented in PowerPoint format so that students can obtain a visual image of the topics being discussed. Many of the fundamental interactions such as +-decay, Auger electron emission, and X-ray fluorescence have been animated to give a clearer explanation of these processes. Calculations are presented in a stepwise manner using Mathcad so that students can see the logical progression of thought required in solving mathematical problems. Extensive use of web resources is made and a series of lecture quizzes are administered over the web. Practice problems, answers to quizzes, and sample examinations are also available on the web. There are frequent guest lecturers in the program to amplify topics that have been discussed in lecture and to present new areas that are not covered in the normal curriculum. Some of the regular speakers in the program and their topics include Dr. PAT GRANT and Dr. KEN MOODY of LLNL who discuss “nuclear forensics” and Dr. DAVID SHUH of LBL who lectures on “advanced Xray techniques applied to actinide chemistry” and conducts a tour of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory following his lecture. Dr. ADRIAN RODRIQUEZ of the SJSU Biology Department presents a 156
lecture on “radiation biology” and Dr. DANIEL HOLLEY also from the Biology Department lectures on “radioimmunoassay techniques” and then conducts a laboratory experiment using RIA kits. Other regular guest lecturers and their topics include Dr. HEINO NITSCHE of LBL, “heavy element synthesis and chemistry”; Dr. DARLEANE HOFFMAN of LBL, “the history of the actinide elements”, Dr. STEVE YATES of the University of Kentucky, “nuclear shapes”; Dr. GREG CHOPPIN of Florida State University, “nuclear power and career opportunities in nuclear and radiochemistry”; Dr. TRISH BAISDEN of LLNL, “the National Ignition Facility”; and various staff members of the Analytical and Nuclear Chemistry Division of the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate at LLNL. Dr. YURI OGANESSIAN of the Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia spoke to the students about “Synthesis of Superheavy Elements – the Dubna – Livermore Collaboration” during the 2002 Summer School. A highlight of the program is that all invited speakers have lunch or dinner with the students so that there is an ample opportunity for the speakers to interact with the students outside of the classroom. The laboratory instructional program begins with lectures on radiation safety and health physics and this aspect of the course is taught by the RSO. Students then go into the laboratory where they learn to set up work areas, survey their workspace and equipment, and how to clean up should a spill occur. They are instructed in the correct procedures for handling radioactive materials and waste disposal. Self monitoring equipment and hand-and-foot counters are used when exiting the laboratory. All students are required to wear thermoluminescent dosimeter badges as well as proper laboratory safety equipment when working with radioactive sources and chemicals. Before every laboratory activity, a pre-lab lecture is presented to discuss the objectives of the laboratory exercise, review any special safety precautions, and specify how the data should be analyzed. All lab reports are required to be submitted in a memorandum format with supporting data, plots, and calculations reported in an appendix. The memorandum starts with an “executive summary” which highlights the conclusion of the laboratory and notes any unusual problems that might have been encountered. For the last few years, two recent graduates of the program have been hired as Teaching Associates for the summer and their duties include the preparation of the laboratories and assisting in the supervision of the students during the laboratory experiments. In 2002, one of the Teaching Associates was a graduate of the Brookhaven Summer School and his comments gave the SJSU staff greater insights into the similarities and differences between the two programs.
W. F. KINARD, H. B. SILBER: THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY SUMMER SCHOOL
The Nuclear Science Facility at San José State University has been described in a previous journal article and provides exceptional teaching facilities for radiochemistry.2 Counting equipment available for the laboratory include G-M detectors, 3” NaI and HPGe solid-state detectors for gamma-spectroscopy, surface barrier detectors for alpha-spectroscopy, and personal computer based multi-channel analyzer systems. In addition, two automated liquid scintillation counters and an automated gamma well counter are used in various laboratories. The Nuclear Science Facility at SJSU has a PuBe neutron source and a 137Cs irradiator available for the course. Dr. CHIN-TZU PENG, one of the pioneers in liquid scintillation counting directed lecture and laboratory sessions dealing with this technique from 1996 to 2001. The following list highlights the experiments done in the nuclear and radiochemistry laboratory section of the course: Determining the working characteristics of a Geiger-Mueller counter; counting statistics; radiation as a function of distance from the source Determining the half-life of a radionuclide; determination of the half-lives of a two component mixture by decay curve resolution; separation of 234mPa from a uranium salt solution by adsorption on a MnO2-precipitate Chemical separation of 137mBa from 137Cs Liquid scintillation spectrometry-experiment (1) Comparison of counting vials; (2) Efficiency determination by the internal standard method; (3) Double isotope counting Absorption of beta- and gamma-radiation; selfabsorption of weak beta radiation; thickness gauging by radioactive tracer techniques Use of radioisotopes as tracers in analytical and physical chemistry – solubility product of lead iodide using 131I; cation-exchange separation of carrier-free 22Na and 137Cs; hot atom chemistry – Szilard-Chalmers process: Isolation of 80mBr from neutron irradiation of CHBr 3 An introduction to gamma-ray spectrometry; NaI(Tl) gamma-ray spectroscopy; HPGe gammaray spectroscopy Operating characteristics of a silicon surface barrier detector; an introduction to alpha-spectrometry using a silicon surface barrier detector Nuclear medicine techniques: Radioimmunoassay of insulin in serum or plasma; preparation and characterization of a radiopharmaceutical Neutron flux measurements using Au and Cd foils; instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of silver Actinide environmental chemistry: Measurement of Kd values for Yucca Mountain Tuff for 131I, 137Cs, and 237Np.
Students work with partners in the laboratory but each person is required to submit an individual laboratory report. There are a minimum of six computers connected to the Internet that are located within the Nuclear Science Facility and are for the exclusive use of the Summer School students. All Summer School students receive a special lock code to allow them into the Nuclear Science Facility after hours. All of the laboratories are locked after hours and the lock codes allow only student access into the computer room. In addition to the lecture and laboratory instruction, students also visit the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, the 88”-cyclotron and PET Center at LBL, and the National Ignition Facility at LLNL. PEGGY MCMAHAN of the Nuclear Science Division of LBL has been especially helpful over the years in conducting tours of the 88”-cyclotron and research beam lines. TRISH BAISDEN has conducted tours of the National Ignition Facility at LLNL during its construction phases. Near the end of the summer program, students are required to give a 10 to 12 minute presentation on some topic involving nuclear and radiochemistry that is of particular interest to them. The presentation is required to be in PowerPoint format with proper citations of web sources. Additionally, students draw names to determine who will lead the questioning of the speaker. Examples of topics that have been chosen by students in the last few years include: Beta-Cath System: Intracoronary brachytherapy with strontium/yttrium-90 Gamma-decay and the truth about internal conversion Inertial confinement: A gateway to the stars Medical and commercial misuse of radioactive materials Non destructive testing: Electromagnetic radiation and the identification of material flaws Oklo: Nature’s nuclear reactor experiment PIXE and XRF analytical techniques Plutonium solution chemistry The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Sentinel lymph node scintigraphy in breast cancer analysis: A novel nuclear medicine imaging technique Solar storms and radiation risk Extensive evaluations of the program are done at the end of every summer school session with the goal of continuous improvement of the program. The general comments are that the program is a lot of work but well worth the effort. At the end of the summer session, an “Outstanding Student” is named and this student is invited to attend a national meeting of the American Chemical Society and address the business meeting of the Division of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology.
157
W. F. KINARD, H. B. SILBER: THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY/AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY SUMMER SCHOOL
One measure of the success of the program is the number of students who have gone on to careers in the nuclear and radiochemistry field. Many of the students continue on into careers in medicine, law and industry. A significant number (nearly 20%) get their PhD degrees in nuclear or radiochemistry and a major portion of these students become nuclear science professionals. The SJSU Summer School makes a point of bringing graduates of the program back to lecture after they have received their PhD degree. The students enjoy meeting these speakers and learning first hand about possible careers in nuclear science from people who were in their position just a few years earlier. Since its inception 20 years ago, the San José State University Nuclear Summer School has continually worked to improve the program in order to provide the best possible learning experiences for the students. Although there have been changes in the personnel associated with the program over the years; Local Site Directors (Drs. LING, ENGLERT, and SILBER), Primary Instructors (Drs. LING, ENGLERT, SILVA, and KINARD), Radiation Safety Officers (KLOEPPING, MCELROY, and
158
PICKERING), and the National Directors (Drs. BAISDEN, PETERSON, and CLARK), the program has continued to flourish and the students are enthusiastic about their experiences. Throughout these changes, there has always been overlap between the Primary Instructors and this has allowed for the smooth workings of the Summer School for the past 20 years. Each of the Primary Instructors has participated for multiple summers before assuming academic control of the Program. The Local Site Directors provide administrative, logistical, and other support before, during, and after the Summer School so that the Primary Instructors can concentrate on the academics. In this way, the program has both continuity and change on a regular basis and this keeps the Nuclear Summer School current and exciting.
References 1. J. R. PETERSON, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 219 (1997) 231. 2. A. C. LING, P. A. J. ENGLERT, C. A. STONE, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 171 (1993) 167.