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Radiation Health Physics - Curriculum

Graduate Majors

Radiation Health Physics (MHP, MS)

The OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics offers online graduate work leading toward the Master of Science and the Master of Health Physics degrees in Radiation Health physics.

The RHP program prepares students for professional careers in the field of radiation protection. Employment opportunities in the field include: federal, state, and local environmental protection agencies, medical care facilities, nuclear reactor sites, national laboratories and private consulting.

At the master’s degree level, our faculty offers online:

• the research-based degree of Master of Science, and
• the professional degree of Master of Health Physics

The Radiation Health Physics graduate degree programs are designed to prepare students for careers involved with the many beneficial applications of nuclear energy, radiation and radioactive materials. The radiation health physics professions are essential to society's well-being since they enable significant public benefits through energy security, national defense, medical health and industrial competitiveness.

The Master of Health Physics graduate curricula and research programs are designed for students with professional interests in the field of radiation protection. This specialized field involves an integrated study of the physical aspects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, their biological effects and the methods used to protect people and their environment from radiation hazards while still enabling the beneficial uses of radiation and radioactive materials.

Students can take the majority of their didactic classes online, with laboratory (and selected other classes) available as intensive one-week on-site courses during the summer in Corvallis. Distance students are encouraged to pursue the MHP option, although the MS can be obtained with permission of the major professor.

Students completing the RHP degree program are eligible to take the Certified Health Physics (CHP) examination administered by the American Board of Health Physics.

Areas of Concentration

Application of nuclear techniques, arms control technology, nuclear instrumentation and applications, nuclear medicine, nuclear power generation, nuclear reactor engineering, nuclear systems design and modeling, nuclear waste management, numerical methods for reactor analysis, radiation shielding, radioisotope production, space nuclear power and thermal hydraulics.

Competitive fellowships and research and teaching assistantships are available to incoming graduate students. The U.S. Department of Energy and National Academy for Nuclear Training support a number of fellowship programs each year. Oregon State University is one of eight participating universities in the United States where students may attend graduate school on the Nuclear Engineering, Health Physics and Applied Health Physics fellowships sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Each year the National Academy for Nuclear Training also supports fellowships for students entering nuclear engineering and radiation health physics at OSU. Research and teaching assistant opportunities are also available for students to support the educational and research programs conducted by the department.

World-class facilities are available for the instructional and research programs of the department. These are housed in the OSU Radiation Center and include a TRIGA Mark II nuclear reactor, the Advanced Thermal Hydraulic Research Laboratory, the APEX nuclear safety scaled testing facility and laboratories specially designed to accommodate radiation and the use of radioactive materials.