Title:

The Academic Research Initiative, Challenges and Opportunities in Research Supporting the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture

Speaker:

Dr. Mark Wrobel

Affiliation:

Department of Homeland Security

When:

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 10:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room Boggs 3-47

Host:

Nolan Hertel
nolan.hertel@me.gatech.edu
4-3601

Abstract

The presentation will provide a short overview of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office and its mission, the concept of a Global Nuclear Detection Architecture, and the current research agenda of DNDO to support transformational research in support of the GNDA’s development, with emphasis on the grants sponsored through the ARI program.

Biography

Dr Mark Wrobel is a senior health physicist and engineer with twenty-five years of experience in radiation protection, radiation measurements, and radiological engineering. He currently serves as a program manager within the Department of Homeland Security where he manages research in advanced radiation detection technology. Dr Wrobel also manages the Academic Research Initiative, a university outreach and grant program. This program is managed jointly by his office and the National Science Foundation, and supports fundamental research in radiation science and sustains a long-term commitment to research across many radiation detection sectors. The program currently supports 36 grants at 30 institutions nation-wide. Research efforts encompass new scintillators and semiconductor detection materials, gamma-ray spectroscopy and imaging systems, neutron detection and spectroscopy systems, non-destructive inspection technologies and detector signal processing, algorithms and modeling. Dr Wrobel came to the DNDO from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) where he managed the passive radiation detection technologies branch for two years. Dr Wrobel is a retired officer of the U.S. Air Force. During his 21 year career, Dr Wrobel served as the senior consultant in health physics to the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General, led management of the AF Master Materials License issued through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and was the career field manager for health and medical physicists in the Service. His other assignments included a number of consultant positions in operational and medical health physics, nuclear and radiological consequence management, non-ionizing radiation protection, and environmental remediation. Dr Wrobel received his doctorate in health physics through the University of Michigan, and his B.S. and M.Eng. in nuclear engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a member of the Health Physics Society, and has been certified for 22 years by the American Board of Health Physics.