March 2020

March 30, 2020April 27, 2020

Smart use of ionizing radiation in biomedical imaging

SPEAKER:

YOUNGHO SEO

DATE/TIME:

MON, 03/30/2020 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

via ZOOM

Spring 2020 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

Biomedical imaging modalities that rely on x-ray and gamma-ray interactions in biological objects and radiation detectors present potential risk of radiation-related complications. In many cases, imaging using ionizing radiation is essential to detect and monitor human diseases; however there is no established consensus about how to maximize the use of ionizing radiation. Smart use of ionizing radiation in biomedical imaging is enabled by advancing hardware and software solutions, extracting the most out of acquired images, and re-using/re-purposing already acquired images. In this talk, I will discuss general concepts of each area, and past and ongoing research efforts of my research group.

About the Speaker:

Youngho Seo, PhD, is a Professor and Director of Nuclear Imaging Physics in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Faculty Affiliate at the Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, Program Member of Pediatric Malignancies and Prostate Cancer programs at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF, Faculty of the UC Berkeley - UCSF Bioengineering Graduate Program, and Physicist Faculty Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Dr. Seo leads a group of physicists and engineers working in the field of radionuclide and x-ray imaging instrumentation and physics, and directs the UCSF Physics Research Laboratory and the microPET/CT, microSPECT/CT, and optical imaging core facility. His primary research focus is to use quantitative SPECT/CT, PET/CT, and PET/MR molecular imaging tools for a broad range of research areas from small animal imaging using dedicated animal imaging systems and basic instrumentation hardware and software development to physics analysis of clinical imaging data.

March 9, 2020April 27, 2020

Nuclear Engineering to Make a Difference

SPEAKER:

RACHEL SLAYBAUGH

DATE/TIME:

MON, 03/09/2020 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Spring 2020 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

We all (I hope) want to use our careers to make a difference. This talk will walk through one example of how that might look and lead into a broader discussion of how one could use a highly technical nuclear engineering education to have an impact. I’ll talk a bit about computational neutronics, nuclear innovation, and government in particular. I’ll also talk about what students can think about and do as they frame their own path to fulfill their own goals.

About the Speaker:

Prof. Slaybaugh researches computational methods applied to nuclear reactors, nuclear non-proliferation and security, and shielding. Slaybaugh is currently serving as a Program Director at ARPA-E. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Breakthrough Institute and at the Berkeley Institute of Data Science. Slaybaugh received a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State, where she served as a licensed nuclear reactor operator, and a PhD from University of Wisconsin–Madison in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics with a certificate in Energy Analysis and Policy. Slaybaugh’s Rickover Fellowship took her to Naval Nuclear Laboratory prior to joining Berkeley.

March 2, 2020April 27, 2020

Using Data Competitions to Crowdsource Innovative Solutions to Urban Radiation Detection Problems

SPEAKER:

CHRISTINE ANDERSON-COOK

DATE/TIME:

MON, 03/02/2020 - 4:00PM TO 5:00PM

LOCATION:

3105 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Spring 2020 Colloquium Series

Abstract:

In 2017 and 2018, NA-22 sponsored a project to host data competitions to solicit innovative solutions for urban radiation detection problems. A team from Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Berkeley National Laboratories fielded and hosted two competitions. The first was restricted to those with a government affiliation, while the second was hosted on Topcoder and was open to an international field of competitors. The competitors were asked to detect, identify and locate 6 different radioactive sources from simulated data that modeled a detector being driven down an urban street. A total of 87 competitors created over 2500 submissions across the two competitions. We will present a new methodology for creating the training and test data sets for the competition that thoroughly explores the diverse problems space considered. In addition, an extended post-competition analysis is able to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the winning algorithms and make detailed comparisons between competitors. A different version of the problem may want to emphasize aspects of the detect, identify and locate the problem for runs with sources and false positives for runs with no sources. Hence, multiple criterion optimization with Pareto fronts allows identification of top solutions for different combinations of the study objectives. Results from the two competitions will be presented and the solution with their improvement of currently used methods compared.

About the Speaker:

Christine Anderson-Cook has been a Research Scientist in the Statistical Sciences Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory since 2004. She currently leads projects in the areas of sequential design of experiments, non-proliferation and effective hosting of data competitions. Before joining LANL, she was a faculty member in the Department of Statistics at Virginia Tech for 8 years. Her research areas include response surface methodology, design of experiments, reliability, multiple criterion optimization and graphical methods. She has authored more than 200 articles in statistics and quality peer-reviewed journals, and has been a long-time contributor to the Quality Progress Statistics Spotlight column. She has co-authored a popular book on Response Surface Methodology with Raymond Myers and Douglas Montgomery. She has served on the editorial boards of Technometrics, Journal of Quality Technology, Quality Engineering and Quality and Reliability Engineering International. She is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association and the American Society for Quality. She is the recipient of the ASQ 2018 Shewhart Medal, the ASQ Statistics Division 2012 William G. Hunter Award, and a two-time recipient of the ASQ Shewell Award. In 2011 she received the 26th Annual Governor’s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women.