People

Shaheen A. Dewji

Dr. Shaheen A. Dewji (she/her/hers) is an Assistant Professor in the Nuclear & Radiological Engineering Department at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she oversees the Radiological Engineering, Detection, and Dosimetry (RED²) research group. Dewji joined Georgia Tech following three years as faculty at Texas A&M University in the Department of Nuclear Engineering, and as a Faculty Fellow of the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI).

In her prior role at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dewji was Radiological Scientist in the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge, where her recent work has included assessment of patient release criteria for nuclear medicine patients, as well as development of dose coefficients associated with the external exposure and internal uptake of radionuclides associated with the external exposure and internal uptake of radionuclides in applications of emergency response, defense, nuclear medicine, long duration space travel, and occupational/public safety. Prior, Dr. Dewji spent five productive years with the Safeguards and Security Technology Group at ORNL as a Nondestructive Assay Systems Engineer, focusing on nuclear material measurement of uranium enrichment, holdup (MUF), and signature analysis. Dr. Dewji completed her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA and was a fellow of the Sam Nunn Security Program. As a native of Vancouver, Canada, she received her Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of British Columbia and also participated in the UBC Science Co-op Program and the Go Global/Education Abroad Program with the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California Berkeley as part of her undergraduate studies.

Dewji currently serves on the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine – Nuclear and Radiological Studies Board.

Education:

Awards (Selected):

  • Health Physics Society – Elda E. Anderson Award (2018)
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Environmental Sciences Division – Science Serving Society (2016)
  • Georgia Institute of Technology, Division of Professional Practice Graduate Student of the Year (2012)
  • Roy G. Post Foundation Scholarship (2012)
  • Institute of Nuclear Materials Management – Robert J. Sorenson Memorial Scholarship (2009)
  • Sam Nunn Security Program, Georgia Institute of Technology (2008-2009)
  • Science Applications International Corporation Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology (2008-2009)
  • Health Physics Society – Richard J. Burk Jr. Fellowship (2007-2008)
  • University of British Columbia – Undergraduate Scholar Program Scholarship (2000-2001)
  • Governor General of Canada – Bronze Medal for Academic Excellence (2000)

Profiles:

Dewji’s Publication Profile: Google Scholar and Recent Publications

Dewji’s Professional Experience Profile: LinkedIn

 

Graduate Students

Ph.D.

Ethan Asano

Ethan Asano (Google Scholar) is a Ph.D. student in the NRE/MP Program in the RED² Laboratory at Georgia Tech, investigating environmental decontamination in the event of a radiological release and involves the assessment of ground and surface contamination using experimental gamma-ray detector response validation with Monte Carlo radiation transport simulations under Dr. Dewji. Radiological releases of concern may include those due to radiological dispersal devices (RDDs), improvised nuclear devices (INDs), or accidents involving the release of fission products. His work is also being conducted under applications of environmental assessment and decommissioning. Additionally, Asano is working on an auxiliary project estimating the external dose persons using ICRP reference phantoms exposed to prompt and delayed radiation using source terms from the RERF Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor data (See Publications).

Asano received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in Nuclear Engineering with a concentration in Radiological Engineering (2019). He completed two summer internships during his undergraduate career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the summer of 2018, Asano interned with the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge (CRPK), where he participated in a study of dose and exposure to the skin as a result of fission product release in a Fukushima-Daiichi simulated accident. In the summer of 2019, Asano participated in a study of the air exchange rate impact on radon vapor intrusion in commercial and residential settings as part of the Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS).

Ignacio Bartol

Ph.D. student – Bio to follow.

Heechan Lee

Heechan Lee is a Ph.D. student in the NRE/MP Program in the RED² Laboratory at Georgia Tech. Heechan Lee received both a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering (2018) and a Master of Science in Energy Systems Engineering (2020) from the Seoul National University. He has done several projects regarding the effects of low dose radiation to human health in Seoul National University. In the summer of 2017 he interned in KOMAC (Korean Multi-Purpose Accelerator Complex). He is working with Dr. Dewji and Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a Department of Energy-funded project harnessing machine learning to predict correlations between low dose radiation and epidemiological health.

Dmitri Margot

Dmitri Margot is a Ph.D. student in the NRE/MP Program in the RED² Laboratory at Georgia Tech. The focus of his research is on discriminating radionuclides biokinetics following an exposure or uptake from a radiological dispersal device (RDD), improvised nuclear device (IND), or nuclear accident involving realistic source term evaluation (particle size/uptake mode/chemical form) of radionuclides to more accurately enhance the biokinetic movement (i.e. metabolism) from uptakes of particulates or fallout. His work will be used to better inform radiation countermeasures by more precisely encompassing the statistical variability of source terms and biokinetic parameters from uptakes from exposed members of the public, first responders, or military personnel.

Margot received his undergraduate degree in Radiological Health Engineering from Texas A&M University. During his undergraduate studies, Margot was a research assistant at the Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS). There he studied medical imaging and worked on developing a model for dose from canines in clinical PET-CT cases. As a graduate researcher, Dmitri has worked with the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge at Oak Ridge National Laboratory studying the biokinetics of beryllium.

Emmanuel Mate-Kole

Ph.D. student – Bio to follow.

Andrew Rosenstrom

Andrew Rosenstrom is a Ph.D. student in the NRE/MP Program in the RED² Laboratory at Georgia Tech. Rosenstrom is investigating a new external beam radiotherapy modality utilizing the so-called “FLASH” effect has been shown to increase the therapeutic index in the treatment of certain cancers compared to conventional radiotherapy treatments. In his work, a new preclinical radiotherapy device using high-energy bremsstrahlung photons is being developed at Stanford University in association with Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He is developing a  multilayered shielding methodology in order to effectively shield the high-intensity secondary radiation generated by the machine during subject irradiation. This methodology utilizes alternating photon and neutron shields in order to take advantage of their shielding characteristics and reduce the adverse secondary radiation that is produced and create a compact and portable shielding design, which is preliminarily being modeled in the Monte Carlo radiation transport code FLUKA v2020.0

Additionally, Rosenstrom is working on an auxiliary project estimating the external dose persons using ICRP reference phantoms exposed to prompt and delayed radiation using source terms from the RERF Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivor data (See Publications).

Rosenstrom graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and a minor in philosophy in May 2019. He has interned at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in the accelerator physics and applied technology division where he helped to develop a mobile associated particle imaging system aimed at producing volumetric distributions of carbon and other isotopes 75000 cubic centimeter samples of soil. Rosenstrom specifically worked to verify the neutron emission rate through the development of a dead time independent rate estimate algorithm and characterized the LaBr and NaI detection efficiency throughout the measurement space through experimental and Monte Carlo methods. He now works with Dr. Dewji at Georgia Tech, in collaboration with the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center .

Hadyn Kistle (TAMU)

(Current TAMU student advisee) Hadyn Kistle is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Nuclear Engineering in the RED² research group working with Dr. Shaheen Dewji. Her interests include nuclear forensics and health physics applications following radiological and nuclear incidents. Kistle is currently conducting her dissertation work in a joint collaboration between Dr. Dewji and the Nuclear Engineering and Nonproliferation (NEN) Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), focusing on conducting neutron multiplicity counting for emergency response and nuclear nonproliferation applications, integrated with machine learning algorithms for neutron unfolding.

Kistle graduated in 2012 from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering. She worked with the Chemistry Division at Los Alamos National Lab in 2016, and has continued working at LANL with M Division (Explosive Science and Shock Physics).

Nicholas Wehmann (TAMU)

(Current TAMU student co-advisee) Nick Wehmann is a Ph.D. student in NSSPI working under the co-advising of Dr. Shaheen Dewji.  He previously worked on locating and quantifying contamination in radiation puncture wounds.  His dissertation project is still being determined.  Wehmann is being funded and supported in his studies through his employer, Los Alamos National Laboratory.  At LANL, Wehmann works as health physics support for the Central Health Physics Calibration Facility which repairs and calibrates all radiation detection instrumentation found on the LANL site.  Previous employment includes: civilian radiation safety officer for the United States Navy at Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division, health physicist on the Emergency Response HAZMAT Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and internal/external dosimetry at DOE Hanford.

M.S.

Audrey Nguyen (TAMU)

(Current TAMU student advisee) Audrey Nguyen is a Masters in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University student whose research interests include dose quantification and modeling for emergency response following radiological or nuclear detonation events. Her current project involves using Lagrangian models to estimate radiation doses from launch safety dispersal incidents from Pu-238. Nguyen is currently on rotation as part of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Graduate Fellowship Program (NGFP).

Nguyen earned her Bachelor of Science in Radiological Health Engineering from Texas A&M University with a minor in mathematics. She is currently pursuing an MS in Nuclear Engineering as part of Dr. Dewji’s RED2 Laboratory group.

Alumni

Graduate Students

  • Autumn Kalinowski (Texas A&M University – Master of Science – Nuclear Engineering, Summer 2021) “Comparison of Cancer Risk Estimates from Internalized Uptakes of Environmental Radionuclides Based on a Chronic Exposure” LinkedIn
  • Sena Dalak (Texas A&M University – Master of Science – Nuclear Engineering, Summer 2021), MS Thesis: “Estimation of Protection Factors for The Transport of Radioactive Material” LinkedIn
  • Alexander Perry (Texas A&M University – Master of Engineering  – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2021) LinkedIn
  • Landon Aziz (Texas A&M University – Master of Science – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2021), MS Thesis: “Estimated Dose Rates for Pediatric Patient Release Criteria for 131I Therapy“.

Undergraduate Students

  • Sherry Adadi (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2022) LinkedIn
  • David Coleman (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2021)
  • R. Holt Mendleski (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2021)
  • Sruthi Sivabhaskar (TAMU BS – Physics, Spring 2020) LinkedIn
  • Matthew Steinohrt (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2020)
  • Alexus Willis (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2020) LinkedIn
  • Thomas Cuthbert (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2019) LinkedIn
  • Chase Foreman Cuthbert (TAMU BS – Nuclear Engineering, Spring 2019)