2020 ANS Virtual Winter Meeting Plenary Special Session Speaker

Dr. Shaheen A. Dewji

Texas A&M University

Dr. Shaheen A. Dewji is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at and Faculty Fellow of the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives (NSSPI). Dr. Dewji completed her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Nuclear and Radiological Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. She received her Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

In her prior role at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dewji was Radiological Scientist in the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge, where her work included assessment of patient release criteria for nuclear medicine patients, as well as development of dose coefficients associated with the external exposure and internal uptake of radionuclides from contaminated environmental media and emergency response. Prior, Dr. Dewji was a Nondestructive Assay Systems Engineer with the Safeguards and Security Technology Group at ORNL, where she employed gamma-ray methods for nuclear material control and accountancy for front and back ends of the fuel cycle.

Having established the Radiological Engineering, Detection, and Dosimetry (RED2) Laboratory at Texas A&M University, Dewji’s research group has focused on harnessing both computational capabilities in Monte Carlo and hybrid deterministic radiation transport modeling, in addition to gamma ray spectroscopy measurements, for applications in radiation protection, dosimetry, health physics, and nuclear materials accounting. Research activities in computational dosimetry investigates the development of dose coefficients using age/sex-specific anthropomorphic computational phantoms and radionuclide biokinetic models for occupational nuclear workers, members of the public, nuclear medicine, space, defense, and emergency response. Research activities in radiation detection employ validation and verification of gamma-ray spectroscopic detector responses for contaminated environmental media; field triage assessment of radiation uptake during nuclear, radiological, and fission product release events; and nuclear materials control, accounting, and safeguards of special nuclear material.

Dewji has been an active member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) since 2005 where she has served in various roles, including the Executive Committee, Officer, and Chair, for both the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division. Currently, Dewji is the General Chair of the Joint 14th International Conference on Radiation Shielding/2021 ANS Radiation Protection and Shielding Division Topical and is a member of the ANS President’s ad-hoc committee on the Low Dose Grand Challenge. Dewji is also an active member of the Health Physics Society (HPS), where she has served as Board Liaison of the Homeland Security Section, member of the Government Relations Committee, HPS President’s Special Task Force on Radiation Protection Needs, representative on the ISO/TC 85/SC2, and recipient of the esteemed 2018 Health Physics Society Elda E. Anderson Award.