SJSU Catalog

Nuclear Science Program

Introduction

San José State University is the only campus of The California State University system that has an extended undergraduate and graduate program in Nuclear Science. The Nuclear Science Facility of San José State University is the unique focus of all related teaching and research activity on campus. The Nuclear Science Program is interdisciplinary, though much of its emphasis is presently on teaching and research in nuclear chemistry, nuclear physics, radiological health physics and related areas such as nuclear analytical chemistry and nuclear geo- and cosmochemistry.

Undergraduate students have an opportunity to work in the facility as part of their general education classes in chemistry and physics. Students majoring in chemistry, physics, and biology come to the facility for some of their classes or for undergraduate research projects. The Department of Chemistry offers its major with a unique concentration in Nuclear and Radiochemistry. The Department of Physics offers its major with a concentration in Nuclear Science. Consult the department listings for degree requirements and course descriptions.

The program culminating in the interdisciplinary MS - Radiological Health Physics is designed to provide students with competency in the theoretical and applied concepts of radiation protection and prepares them for professional careers in radiation protection. Graduates are well prepared to sit for the American Board of Health Physics certification examination. San José State University has discontinued the MS Program in Radiological Health Physics and no new students are being accepted into the program.

SJSU also offers MS degrees in Chemistry and Physics. The course of study could emphasize nuclear chemistry or nuclear physics depending on the student's particular interest. Consult the chemistry or physics listings respectively for degree requirements and course descriptions.

Resources

The university's Nuclear Science Facility is a unique physical plant specifically designed and built for classroom, laboratory and research work in nuclear science and technology. The Nuclear Science Facility is a freestanding 10,000 square foot, three-story building contiguous to the university's other science and classroom facilities. It is comprised of a briefing room, administrative and faculty offices, four undergraduate wet labs, two undergraduate counting rooms, five graduate wet labs, a high activity storage room, plant and animal experiment rooms, a waste water collection and sampling system, an ambient air sampling system and storerooms. The facility is staffed full-time by a director, an office manager, senior technologists and a radiation safety officer.

The reference library within the facility is comprised of approximately 300 volumes of standard science reference works and texts covering basic and advanced nuclear physics science and technology, radiobiology, health physics and standards and procedures. This collection supplements the university library, comprised of 900,000 volumes and more than 2,100 science and engineering periodicals.

Research

Research in the Nuclear Science Facility is sponsored through grants from DOE, NASA, NSF, and others. Most research is done in collaboration with other universities and national laboratories. Close collaborations are established with the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory of the University of California at Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The Nuclear Science Facility is conducting applied and developmental work in neutron dosimetry, neutron activation analysis, prompt gamma activation and analytical work with accelerator-produced charged particles. A new research program will develop novel methods of visualizing complex nuclear data on desktop computers.