{"id":1233,"date":"2019-08-01T09:50:49","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T16:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=1233"},"modified":"2024-07-23T14:47:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T21:47:13","slug":"faculty-spotlight-kathryn-higley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/faculty-spotlight-kathryn-higley\/","title":{"rendered":"After a radiation or nuclear incident, she\u2019s on call to assess the risks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Professor Kathryn Higley (right), who teaches online and on-campus courses at Oregon State, is one of the go-to experts on the impacts of radiation, serving as a consultant for affected areas and offering guidance to governmental agencies in the aftermath of potentially hazardous events.<\/p><\/div>\n

Professor Kathryn Higley juggles teaching online with OSU Ecampus and evaluating contaminated sites<\/h2>\n

Any nuclear radiation disaster will raise important questions:<\/p>\n

How will the incident affect surrounding communities? What are the health risks for the people who live there?<\/p>\n

When Kathryn Higley<\/a>, professor in Oregon State University\u2019s School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, isn\u2019t teaching online and on-campus courses, she answers those questions for the media and public safety officials.<\/p>\n

\n

Ensure the safe use of radiation<\/h2>\n

Challenge yourself and advance your career by enrolling in Oregon State University’s rigorous health physics program online, and learn firsthand from world-recognized radiation detection and protection professionals.<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

She\u2019s one of the go-to experts on the impacts of radiation, serving as a consultant for affected areas and offering guidance to governmental agencies in the aftermath of potentially hazardous events.<\/p>\n

Because Kathryn may be anywhere across the globe at any given time, it makes sense that she has taught mostly online courses in recent years as part of Oregon State\u2019s radiation health physics master\u2019s program<\/a>, which is delivered online by OSU Ecampus. Her day-to-day schedule varies, she says, so the flexibility of the online format benefits her and her students alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of a nice thing \u2013 if I can get online, I can go in and make comments and grade things even if I\u2019m half a world away,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Around the world<\/h3>\n

The Oregon resident\u2019s career has taken her to places ranging from Washington state \u2013 the location of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, where she once worked as a physicist \u2013 to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan, the site of the well-publicized nuclear accident in 2011 prompted by an earthquake and tsunami.<\/p>\n

Kathryn\u2019s travels require a careful analysis of the safety risks beforehand. This year, she went to Paris to collaborate with a nuclear group to analyze data on the implications of radiation exposure for organisms.<\/p>\n

Last year, she was brought to the former shipyard at Hunters Point outside of San Francisco, which for decades was the site of the U.S. Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory. After the environmental contractor overseeing the cleanup of radioactive waste at the site was accused of falsifying data, Kathryn was called in to clarify the potential risks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with people in the international community to try and develop tools to better understand radiation dose to nonhuman organisms,\u201d she says. For the past two decades, she has focused more on the environmental rather than human risks of radiation, though she has focused on both in the course of her career.<\/p>\n

“<\/span>The common thread is understanding how radioactive materials released from either routine or accidental events can move through the environment.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kathryn plays a unique role after nuclear incidents because federal radiation protection agencies often can\u2019t provide much information to the public, she says. So when the news media need an expert opinion, she provides a critical voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe common thread is understanding how radioactive materials released from either routine or accidental events can move through the environment,\u201d potentially impacting plants and animals and sometimes people, she says.<\/p>\n

\"Kathryn-Higley-radiation-health-physics-online\"

Kathryn plays a unique role after nuclear incidents because federal radiation protection agencies often can\u2019t provide much information to the public, she says. So when the news media need an expert opinion, she provides a critical voice.<\/p><\/div>\n

She adds that radiation health touches many areas of our world \u2013 whether in medical imaging, space travel, environmental protection or the overall safety of humankind.<\/p>\n

Sharing a wealth of knowledge<\/h3>\n

Kathryn\u2019s passion for radiation protection and health physics began during her undergraduate years at Reed College, when she started working at a reactor during a winter break. Now she serves as a professor at OSU, teaching classes on radiation biology and radiation ecology.<\/p>\n

Kathryn\u2019s online students are often adults with a mix of professional backgrounds; they may work in nuclear plants, hospitals, the military and government roles. Many pursue a degree to advance their careers, taking courses in topics including radiation detection, radiochemistry, and nuclear rules and regulations.<\/p>\n

After earning her Ph.D. from Colorado State University, Kathryn came on board as an OSU faculty member in 1994 \u2013 a career move she had always wanted to make.<\/p>\n

Having taught in person and online, she\u2019s familiar with both formats. But, she says, prospective students shouldn\u2019t expect a less rigorous course load just because a program is online. Ecampus students even complete group projects, just as they would in a face-to-face setting.<\/p>\n

“<\/span>There\u2019s an expectation that you\u2019re continually engaging with the material, with your peers, with the instructor, to keep you up to speed. And so you need to take [online learning] seriously.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an expectation that you\u2019re continually engaging with the material, with your peers, with the instructor, to keep you up to speed,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd so you need to take it seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s up to Kathryn \u2013 and her students \u2013 to address some of the significant radiation issues of today. This includes finding the right level of protection for affected communities without overzealously cleaning and causing damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still kind of arguing about where that appropriate level of protection sits. You want to get it right,\u201d Kathryn says. \u201cYou want to make sure that your environment doesn\u2019t pose a hazard to anybody, but you don\u2019t destroy it at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 4<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>Professor Kathryn Higley, who teaches online and on-campus courses at Oregon State, is one of the go-to experts on the impacts of radiation, serving as a consultant for affected areas and offering guidance to governmental agencies in the aftermath of potentially hazardous events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,9,3,677,8],"tags":[160,23,344],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-ecampus","category-faculty","category-features","category-students-and-alumni","category-students","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-engineering","tag-radiation-health-physics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/Kathryn-Higley-radiation-health-physics.jpg?fit=744%2C478&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-jT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1366,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/radiation-innovative-programs\/","url_meta":{"origin":1233,"position":0},"title":"Radiation health physics instructor is on a path toward global peace","author":"Meriden Vitale","date":"March 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ph.D. faculty Lily Ranjbar teaches online while leading research on radioxenon detection Editor's note:This story was originally published by the OSU College of Engineering. 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