2017 Fall Retreat Recap

(2017-09-15) Over 80 students, faculty, and alumni attended the 2017 Fall Retreat at the Haw River State Park, NC this past weekend. This year’s topic was “Achieving Excellence in Academics, Communication, Community.” Keynote remarks were delivered by Jeff Polish of The Monti, highlighting the importance of storytelling in scientific presentation, as well as Dr. Robert Beichner (Education), Dr. Zbigniew Kabala (Communication), and Paul James (Community). The retreat started off on Friday (9/8) with team-building activities and an alumni panel where Steve Bach (MS 2014), Titania Juang (PhD 2015), Michael Trager (MS 2017), and James Spencer (MS 2017), graciously shared their experiences. Attendees also had the opportunity to learn basic survival skills and orienteering directly from the Haw River State Park instructors. In addition, some of our students, faculties, and alumni showcased their talents through the annual medical physics talent show. Performers include: The Ultrasound Acapella Group (Jeff Fenoli, Taylor Smith, Ryan Pappafotis, James Spencer, Bria Moore, James Jensen, Jonathan Cuthbertson), Ruiqi Geng and James Spencer (Solo Pianists), the Background Noise band (Paul Yoon, James Spencer, and Dr. Samei), X-Ray Spectrum Dance Group (Yingxuan Chen, Sydney Shen, Xiaoning Liu, Yixin Ma, Xiaoyu Duan), and Sagarika Jain (Solo Vocalist).

Check out our Facebook page for pictures from the retreat at https://www.facebook.com/dukemedphys/

We would like to thank our student leaders for yet another successful retreat!

Oldham Receives New NIH Grant

(2017-09-15) Dr. Mark Oldham (Radiation Oncology) has recently received a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant from the NIH titled: “A Practical and Versatile High-Resolution 3D Dosimetry System for Clinical Use”. The project focuses on developing practical and versatile high-resolution 3D dosimetry system for clinical use, which can improve Quality Assurance (QA) procedure in radiation therapy and ensure effective delivery and patient safety. The long-term goal is to commercialize the Presage/Optical-CT system and meet the need for an economic but hugely capable fully 3D dosimetry system for the general clinic, capable of in-house use (with re-useable PRESAGE® formulations) or for remote offsite long-distance credentialing type verification (stable PRESAGE®). The Presage/Optical-CT 3D dosimetry system will be a listed FDA medical device commercially sold by Heuris Inc. Read abstract here.

Announcing Distinguished Lecture

Adrian Bejan, PhD, Duke University
J.A. Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering 
"Life and Evolution as Physics"
Sep. 21, 2017; 2:30 PM; Bryan Research Bld. Auditorium
Reception and townhall discussion will follow

Professor Bejan's research covers engineering science and applied physics: thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, convection, porous media. More recently, he developed the constructal law of organization and evolution in nature.

Professor Bejan was ranked in 2001 among the 100 most highly cited authors worldwide in engineering (all fields, all countries), the Institute for Scientific Information. Professor Bejan has received 18 honorary doctorates from universities in 11 countries.

Adrian Bejan is the author of 30 books and over 600 peer-referred articles. In August 2017, his h-index is 87 on Google Scholar and 60 on the Web of Science.

Annual Fall 2017 Retreat

(2017-09-01) The second annual Fall 2017 Retreat for students, faculty, and alumni of Duke University Medical Physics Graduate Program will be held on September 8-10, 2017, at the Haw River State Park, NC. This year’s theme is Achieving Excellence in Communication, Education, and Community. Keynote speaker for the retreat is Dr. Jeff Polish, founder and executive director of The Monti.

 Dr. Jeff Polish is an award-winning scientist turned to international speaker and consultant based in North Carolina. Originally from New York, Dr. Polish earned his Doctoral degree in Molecular Cell Biology from Washington University in St. Louis. He taught science for seven years before founding The Monti in 2008 to pursue storytelling as a full-time endeavor as well as consulting businesses and non-profits on how to communicate effectively through storytelling. Dr. Polish has been profiled in Science, Our State Magazine, Southern Living, and Garden & Gun and received an Indies Arts Award in 2013.

Other remarks will be given by Dr. Robert Beichner of NCSU, Dr. Zbigniew Kabala, and Paul James of Duke University. The retreat will start with student-only forums on September 8, followed by two days of programmed activities and remarks. As part of the tradition, some of our students and faculties will be performing for the highly-anticipated talent show. Stay tuned for our post-retreat report!

Retreat highlights video

(2017-08-31) Check out our highlights video from the 2016 retreat last fall, released just in time for the next one taking place this weekend. Thanks to Jayasai Rajagopal for editing, Joseph Lo and Marthony Robins for video, and music by Background Noise (Ehsan Samei, Anuj Kapadia, James Spencer, Paul Yoon). These contributors are all students and faculty of our program!

Highlights from 2016 Retreat