News Archive

Latha Vasudevan, Section Past President

The joint IRPA 16/69th Health Physics Society (HPS) Annual Meeting in July 2024 was a tremendous success. The Academic, Industrial, and Research Radiation Safety (AIRRS) Section business meeting was conducted on 11 July 2024 at the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel. Section Executive Committee members Zachariah Tribbett, Caitlin Root, Michael Martin, Danny McClung, and I and HPS Director Liaison Angela Leek were present in person while Steven Grimm, Alexander Bakken, and Carl Tarantino joined through Zoom. The newly elected officers were announced. Alexander Bakken became our new secretary/treasurer-elect, and Frederick A. Monett joined as the new board member. The team welcomed the incoming officers.

The AIRRS Section 2024 Outstanding Radiation Safety Program Award was presented to the University of Utah. Congratulations to the University of Utah Radiation Safety Program. Mary Handy, assistant radiation safety officer at the University of Utah, Environmental Health and Safety was present during the meeting to accept the award plaque. The AIRRS Section also supported her meeting registration cost. One of the criteria for the award was to have a presentation from the winning team to showcase their outstanding program. Mary provided a brief summary of the program during the meeting. However, the AIRRS Section would like to invite all the AIRRS Section members via Zoom to attend a detailed presentation from the winning team. Stay tuned for the Zoom meeting invite within the next couple of months.

The section also provided $500 each to two HPS student grant applicants whose project lies closely with the AIRRS mission:

• Bryanna Wattier, Clemson University, "Use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to Advance Optimization of Radiological Protection and Safety"
• Yehansa Dissanayake, University of Michigan, "Fused Filament Fabrication Using Tungsten-Filled Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol for Radiation Applications"

AIRRS Section members are encouraged to visit the section's website to read and learn about the historical and current activities, board correspondence, and other AIRRS Section news. The AIRRS Section board invites its members to be proactive in submitting noteworthy articles, industry experiences, photos, videos, links to webinars/webcasts, or other items that deal with AIRRS. The section discussed future initiatives and some legacy initiatives with AIRRS Section President Steven Grimm. AIRRS will create a travel grant opportunity for members to attend the 2025 HPS Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin. The section is also looking into an informal meet and greet of section members at that meeting. Stay tuned for the upcoming news on that.

The meeting was concluded with the section officers presenting the appreciation plaque to the outgoing president.

Mary Handy, of the University of Utah, providing a brief summary of the university's radiation safety program
Photo courtesy of Latha Vasudevan

Mary Handy, left, accepting the award for the 2024 Outstanding Radiation Safety Program from Latha Vasudevan
Photo courtesy of Zachariah Tribbett

AIRRS Section officers presenting the appreciation plaque to outgoing President Latha Vasudevan, left to right, Danny McClung, Zachariah Tribbett, Michael Martin, Latha, and Caitlin Root
Submitted photo