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RE:neutron QF and HP as a career
I've been sitting reading these things as they come in for quite a while
now, and I've finally found a couple of issues that I think (this statement
is always a bad sign, isn't it?) I can say something intelligent about:
1) I think the shortest answer to the neutron Q question is a little
simpler than I've seen so far: the absorption cross section in tissue goes
down with E. Q is supposed to be a relative biological marker, and a
neutron-nucleus collision is associated with a very large energy density in
the tissue, much higher than the track density of a secondary alpha, for
example. As the cross section drops, the probability for one of these
"dense" events goes down, density of deposited energy goes down, and Q goes
down with it.
2) I really hope that I can be considered "qualified" before I'm certified,
otherwise two things are going to happen to me: a) I'm going to kill
myself for spending useless time in grad school (something I'm thinking
about anyway), and b) I'm going to have a hard time keeping the jobs that I
need to have to have been working in the field long enough to get certified.
I think it might be a little dangerous to put all the emphasis on a
certification (that I am desperately studying for) that one has to be
working in the field to be eligible for. What happens when you can't get a
job without it, regardless of your M.S.'s, or your Ph.D., so you can't get
certified, so you can't get a job, so you can't............ Believe me, I'm
not against certification, I'm just against being told I'm no good at my job
without it, excuse me, that I'm "unqualified".
E. Neal Zapp
NASA/JSC, Radiation Biology
Bldg. 37, Rm. 167
(281) 483-2244 (O)
(713) 765-2193 (P)
Any opinions expressed herein, or incorrect assertions, are attributable
only to me. Not to you, not to him, not to her, not to them, not to us,
to me. Noone else could possibly be this brain-dead without having the
plug pulled, so it must be me.
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