Graduate Education

BREY, Richard R., Ph.D., CHP

Director, ISU Health Physics Program

Dr. Richard R. Brey is the Director of the Health Physics Program at Idaho State University.  Dr. Brey received his PhD in Health Physics from Purdue University in 1994.  He has served as the Director of the Environmental Assessment Laboratory at ISU from 1994-present.  Rich specializes in health physics fundamentals, radiation detection instrumentation theory, and the physics and modeling of hazardous material transport through porous media. Dr. Brey assists the Registries with the organization and presentation of health physics case data and advises ISU health physics graduate research students in projects utilizing the unique resources of the USTUR program.

ACHA, Robert

Ph.D. Student

Robert Acha obtained his Bsc in Physics from University of Buea, Cameroon, in 2002. He later on moved to Sweden where he obtained his Masters degree in Physics with emphasis in Medical Physics, from Umeå University, in 2006. His research topic was “Determination of Basic Dosimetric Properties of  Annular Liquid Ionization Chambers”. Robert is currently a PhD student at ISU and part of the USTUR research team. He has been a member of the Health Physics Society from October 2007 and is a recipient of the 2008-2009  Health Physics Society  Fellowship.

AVTANDILASHVILI, Maia

Ph.D. Student

Maia Avtandilashvili graduated from Physics Faculty of I.Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (Republic of Georgia) with specialization of Nuclear Physics in 1984 (Diploma with Honors). From 1985 up to July 2006, she had been working at the Radiocarbon and Low-Level Counting Section of Tbilisi State University as Research Worker. In 1985-1990, she was involved in Radiocarbon Dating activities carried out within the framework of research contracts between TSU and Archeological Research Center of Georgian Academy of Science. In 1997-2002, she participated in the Georgian group activities within the framework of IAEA TC Regional Project “Marine Environmental Assessment of the Black Sea Region”. In 1999, she was awarded an IAEA Fellowship and had an opportunity to visit the several leading research centers in Germany for on-the-job training in field of environmental radioactivity monitoring. Within the fellowship program, she participated in the research cruise on the North and Baltic seas. In 2002-2004, she was involved in cooperative research activities with ISU within the framework of the Advanced Accelerator Applications – Dose Conversion Coefficients (AAA-DCC) project of US Department of Energy. In 2003-2006, she participated in the Independent Radiological Monitoring program in cooperation with Environmental Monitoring Laboratory of ISU. Currently, she is involved in CRDF/GRDF cooperative project “Tbilisi Radon Assessment Initiative” to be implemented jointly by ISU Physics/Health Physics Department and TSU Radiocarbon and Low-Level Counting Section. She is a co-author of up to 16 publications in Georgian and International scientific periodicals. The fruitful and persistent cooperation with the scientists from ISU during the last several years inspired her to apply for graduate studies at ISU within the PhD program in Health Physics.

CHELIDZE, Nino

Ph.D. Student

Nino Chelidze graduated with a B.S. in 2003 from Tbilisi State University, Physics Department with the emphasis in Biophysics. Meanwhile she was an exchange student at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis for one academic year. After that she came to Pocatello and did her masters at Idaho State University, Physics Department. Her thesis title was: Investigating Radiation Bystander Effects in the Single-Celled Organism S. Pombe. Nino has been a member of the Health Physics Society since January, 2004. She presented poster presentations at the Annual Meetings in 2004 and 2005. She was awarded with the Burton J. Moyer Fellowship for 2005-2006 academic year and is currently pursuing a Ph. D. program at Idaho State University.

FALLAHIAN, Naz

Ph.D. Student

Naz Fallahian graduated in 1992 with a B.S. in Applied Physics from the University of Tehran. Her thesis topic was Semiconductor Detectors and their Applications.  She received her M.S. degree in Physics from Alzahra University in 1997 (thesis topic: Study of Behavior of Aerosols in an Electrostatic field).  Naz is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Applied Physics (Health Physics) department at Idaho State University.  Her dissertation topic is: Study of Association between Exposure to Transuranic Radionuclides and Cancer Death.  Naz worked as a staff member with the National Radiation Protection Department (Iran) from 1998 to 2005.  Prior to that she worked for the Radiation Standards Research Center and the Spectroscopy Research Center

GERMANN, Liesl

M.S. Student

Liesl Germann graduated from McGill University in Montreal, Canada
with a B.S. in Biology. She came to Idaho State University in 2006
and is currently pursuing a master's degree in Health Physics.
Liesl has been a member of the Health Physics Society since January,
2007 and presented a poster at the 52nd Annual Health Physics
Society Meeting entitled, "Evaluation of the In Press NCRP Wound
Model Using USTUR Case 0262 Data." Her current research involves an
expansion of the poster study using additional USTUR
plutonium-contaminated wound cases.

HALL, Morris

Ph.D. Student

Morris Hall graduated from Idaho State University with a M.S. in Physics (Health Physics emphasis) in 1993. His thesis research evaluated the performance of neutron dosimeters under various radiation fields and environmental conditions. Morris is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Health Physics department at Idaho State University.
Morris has specialized expertise in operational health physics, radiation dosimetry, dose reconstruction, and radiological and chemical risk assessments. Post graduate degree experience includes dose reconstructions for Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Nuclear Test Personnel Review (NTPR) program, radiological/chemical risk assessments for the British Nuclear Fuels Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, radiological and chemical human health risk assessments for the Department of Energy (DOE) Waste Experimental Reduction Facility,  radiological and chemical transportation analyses for the DOE Nevada Test Site, a Risk Management Plan for the FMC Corporation Pocatello Plant, and Radiological Dose Assessments (RDAs) for recycling of radioactive materials for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

MATTHEWS, Travis

M.S. Student

Travis Matthews completed his undergraduate degree in physics with concentrations in health physics at Louisiana State University. He came to Idaho State University in 2007 and is currently working on his Masters in health physics. His project is to study the distribution of inhaled plutonium in bone. The main point of the project is to use data from USTUR database to determine the precision of using in vivo skull and patella measurements to estimate total skeleton burden.

MECHAM, Dan

M.S. Student

Dan Mecham graduated from Southern California University of Health Sciences in Los Angeles, California with a B.S. in Biology in 1988 and then a Doctor of Chiropractic degree in 1992. He was in group and private practice in California and Pocatello, Idaho from 1992-2006. Dan began attending Idaho State University in 2006 and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Health Physics. His thesis project includes “An updated evaluation of data from the statistical analysis of plutonium in U.S. autopsy tissue.” Dan has been a member of the Health Physics Society since January 2007.

SHELTON, Erika

M.S. Student

Erika Shelton graduated from Ohio State University in 2007 with a B.S. in Engineering Physics and a B.S. in Astronomy. She worked briefly at Battelle, Columbus, OH before moving to Pocatello, ID to pursue her Master's degree in Health Physics. The topic of her thesis will likely involve the plutonium wound model.

TABATADZE, George

Ph.D. Student

George Tabatadze graduated with a B.S. in 2003 from Tbilisi State University, Physics Department with the emphasis in Physics and Computer Science. In 2004 he came to the U.S.A. and did his M.S. at University of Nevada Las Vegas, Department of Health Physics, with the emphasis in Medical Physics. (Thesis title: Alpha Particle Transport in Voxelized Trabecular Bone Images). George has been a member of the Health Physics Society since December 2005, and a member of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine since April 2006. George is currently pursuing a Ph.D. program at Idaho State University.
Current Research Interest: Bone Dosimetry, Applications of Internal Dosimetry in Medical Imaging Physics and Radiation Therapy.