Bloomsburg University
of Pennsylvania
D e c e m b e r 2 0 11
SciTech
C o l l e g e o f S c i e n c e a n d T e c h n o lo g y N e w s l e tt e r n w w w. b lo o m u. e d u / c o st n 570. 38 9. 5333
Star light,
star bright,
let’s inflate
the sky tonight
A fascination with the night sky is as old as humanity and,
in our own memories, as old as childhood. Children sing
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” always wondering what those
brilliant lights are.
Naz Fallahian and David Simpson
Health physics profs
collaborate with Geisinger
Collaborations between Bloomsburg University’s
departments and with other institutions offer
students and faculty members a symbiotic
relationship to explore new discoveries and
opportunities, says David Simpson, associate
professor of physics and engineering technology
and the coordinator of the health physics
program.
research,” Simpson says. “It’s a very good,
mutually beneficial relationship.”
May 2011 health physics graduate Jason Vognetz
received a full travel grant from the Health
Physics Society to attend their annual meeting
in West Palm Beach, Fla., in June to discuss his
senior-year research done in collaboration with
Geisinger Medical Center’s radiation therapy
department.
And that relationship pays off, he says. Many
new Geisinger health physics hires are BU
graduates, as are new employees at the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection’s Bureau of Radiation Protection,
where Simpson and his colleague, fellow
physics professor Naz Fallahian, work closely
with director Dave Allard. There is a nationwide
shortage of trained health physicists, and BU’s
recognition by leading employers and graduate
schools, such as Texas A&M, Idaho Sate and
Oregon State Universities, offers an excellent
market to graduates.
His research, Heart Shift and Reduction in Heart
Dose to Left-Breast Cancer Patients Using the
Deep Inspiration Breathing Holding Technique,
studied patients undergoing radiation therapy
and found that having them hold their breath to
shift the position of the heart lowered potentially
harmful radiation to the organs.
“We have many connections in local, state,
power and medical fields, and our students get
hired at all of them,” says Simpson. “Health
physics covers several kinds of science, allowing
us to work with biology, chemistry and nursing
professors and students in the college. We’re
always looking for new combined projects.”
“Geisinger has the facilities to do a great deal of
research, but they lack the time and manpower
to publish it, and our students need somewhere
beyond what we have available to do their
The duo conduct their own research as well,
and made headlines in March when they
found traces of radioactive Iodine-131 in
Continued on next page.
“The song is right,” says Robert Marande, dean of the
College of Science and Technology at Bloomsburg University.
“Stars twinkle, but planets do not. It can be as simple as
that.”
School children and Bloomsburg community members will
be invited to explore this childhood captivation as Marande
uses the college’s new portable, inflatable planetarium
in presentations on campus and at local schools. The
planetarium folds down into a duffle bag, but expands to
seat up to 27 people.
Plans call for Marande’s Backyard Astronomy program to
use the planetarium to teach community members about
the heavens, including topics such as constellations, stellar
evolution, the possibility of extraterrestrial life and other
phenomena. The four-week program, which will expand on
those he’s offered in the past, will be open to all ages and
meet on campus one night a week. Next summer’s math
and science camps for middle and high school students
also will utilize the planetarium, as will local schools when
Marande offers children an introduction to astronomy.
“Once people find out that science isn’t intimidating, you
get a very good dialog going on, and an improved level of
understanding,” Marande says. “It’s truly the most enjoyable
thing I’ve done.”
The planetarium, made by Starlab, expands to 10 feet in
height and 16 feet in diameter, features interactive and
scientifically precise projected demonstrations, and has a
built-in ventilation system to provide fresh air and regulate
temperature.
“We hope to get kids interested in science,” Marande says.
“It helps teachers have more access to science in the
classroom, and hopefully the kids will remember BU down
the road and we will see them return as future scientists.”
– Jenn D’Amico
Bloomsburg University College
of
Science
and
Technology Newsletter
D ecember 2 011 — Page 2
Profile:
Linda Cook,
Nursing
BU students train
for radiation response
Thirteen students from the Bloomsburg
University Department of Physics and Engineering Technology recently completed their
training to qualify as Radiological Response
Team members for Columbia County.
The training consists of three nights of instruction led by a Nuclear Emergency Planner
from the PPL Susquehanna Nuclear Power
Station and covers topics such as proper
radiological survey of individuals, types of radiation, radiation instrumentation and labeling of radioactive shipments. The students,
who are all volunteers, would respond to the
Columbia Montour Vo-Tech School to assist in
monitoring emergency workers in the event of
a radiological incident at the power plant, but
may also be called upon to assist in monitoring in the event of a motor vehicle accident in
the county involving radioactive material.
This program, which began in 2007, has
been conducted five times for Bloomsburg
University students, and has had more than
30 students participate.
This years participants included: Kyle Diltz,
Nakita Mainiero, Kelly Barko, Emilee Snyder,
Richard Lynch, Meagan Robinson, Tim Gildea,
Edward Davis, Ariel Davis, Diana Freyberger,
Valerie Freyberger, Rachel Livingston and
Jarrad Barnhart
Collaborate
Continued from previous page.
rainwater samples in nearby Danville, carried
by atmospheric patterns from the Fukushima
reactor in Japan. The sensitivity of their top-ofthe-line radiation detection equipment allowed
them to pick up on very subtle changes in
radioactivity levels, Simpson says.
“Iodine-131 isn’t particularly rare or dangerous
and only has a half-life of eight days, but it
wouldn’t normally show up around here,” he
says. Before coming to BU, he worked at a
nuclear plant of the same type as the Fukushima
reactor, and has given presentations at a PPL
meeting for federal, state and local emergency
response agencies, Geisinger and the Danville
Rotary Club describing the Fukushia reactors
accidents and their consequences.
Simpson and Fallahian are also conducted
work sampling water in Fishing Creek to
assess radiation levels in the Marcellus Shale
drilling area, which are potentially harmful to
the environment and water supplies, and are
collaborating with BU’s biology department to
study the effects of irradiating skin cells.
Linda Cook has taught
psychiatric/mental health nursing
to senior nursing students since
joining Bloomsburg University in
August 1998. Certified as a psychiatric/mental health nurse by the
American Nurses’ Credentialing Center, Cook provides classroom
theory and clinical instruction to students in the acute treatment
setting at Geisinger Medical Center, the long-term care setting at
Danville State Hospital and outpatient settings, such as the partial
hospitalization program offered by Community Services Group
in Sunbury. She also teaches addictions nursing when students
affiliate at the White Deer Run Treatment Facility, Allenwood, as
well as online graduate-level nursing courses in research and
family health nursing.
Cook has served as the project director of Bloomsburg University’s
Campus Suicide Prevention Program since receiving a grant from
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Administration, in September 2006. She
regularly provides Campus Connect Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper
trainings through the nursing department’s Wellness Center and
online via the Bloomsburg Online Learning and Teaching program
(BOLT) and has trained several thousand students, faculty and
staff on depression in college students and suicide prevention
since the program began. Cook now is working with the Central
Susquehanna Valley Mental Health Association to extend suicide
prevention efforts into the local community, with a particular focus
on teens and young adults.
She has presented nationally and at the state and regional
levels on suicide prevention. She also has published articles in
the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services
related to mental health issues, including ways to address
the mental health needs of college students, development of
programs for faith-based organizations to prevent child abuse and
substance abuse issues in women.
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania is committed to affirmative action by
way of providing equal educational and employment opportunities for all persons
without regard to race, religion, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation,
disability or veteran status.
www.bloomu.edu/cost