When Chris Pedersen transferred to Colorado State University from the Air Force Academy two years ago, he began casting about for a major that would satisfy his interests in both the biological and physical sciences. His timing could not have been better. A five-year program awarding an undergraduate degree in Environmental Health and a master degree in Health Physics had recently been established. For Pedersen, it was a perfect fit.

"Health physics is a blending of all the sciences, with a heavy concentration on the physics side as it relates to biology and the other sciences," said Pedersen, who is entering the final year of his program this fall and working at the consulting firm Tetra Tech in radiation training this summer. "Most people have a lot of misconceptions about radiation, and high schools tend to teach pretty simple stuff. It's been interesting to be a part of this program and study more in-depth the ways we can use radiation for good, and how we can protect ourselves from harm."

The health physics profession is associated with using radiation for the benefit of society. Originally the focus of the profession was the prevention of unwarranted exposures to radiation. Today, health physicists help society make judgments concerning the balance of risks and benefits from new technologies that depend on radiation. This includes basic research, medicine, environmental restoration, industrial applications, and space exploration.

"CSU has been well known for its expertise and graduate programs in environmental health physics and radioecology. While we still have strengths in those areas, we have added non-ionizing research and incorporated the field of medical physics to expand and enhance our program." said Dr. Tom Johnson, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences and faculty adviser for the Graduate Program in Health Physics. Drs. Shawki Ibrahim and Thomas Borak also are program advisers.

Chris Pedersen in the laboratory

Health physicists focus on the evaluation and protection of human health from radiation, whereas medical physicists use radiation and other physics-based technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. The CSU graduate program in Health Physics is one of only a few programs nationwide to receive accreditation from the American Board for Engineering Technology. The accreditation first became available in 2001 with the goal of standardizing health physics programs and creating a foundation upon which up and coming programs could build to meet current and future needs in health physics.

Pedersen currently is the only undergraduate student enrolled in the five-year dual degree program. The graduate program also has 16 master's student and two doctoral students enrolled. Student numbers have grown rapidly over the last few years, and industry demand for the program's graduates continues to grow.

This is particularly important because many of the nation's health physicists, educated in the 1960s and 1970s, are reaching retirement age at the same time economic, environmental, biomedical, and research conditions are creating an unprecedented demand for individuals with their skills.

"If we just look at one area, nuclear power, we can see the demand for health physicists will start to rise almost exponentially in the next decade and there simply aren't enough health physics programs nationwide to meet that demand," said Dr. Johnson. "For our students, that means a rich job market and some pretty amazing opportunities in both the private and public sectors."

For more information on the graduate program in Health Physics at Colorado State University, visit Graduate Study in Health Physics and check out Health Physics on Facebook.