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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Remembering ANS member Gil Brown
Brown
The nuclear community is mourning the loss of Gilbert Brown, who passed away on July 11 at the age of 77 following a battle with cancer.
Brown, an American Nuclear Society Fellow and an ANS member for nearly 50 years, joined the faculty at Lowell Technological Institute—now the University of Massachusetts–Lowell—in 1973 and remained there for the rest of his career. He eventually became director of the UMass Lowell nuclear engineering program. After his retirement, he remained an emeritus professor at the university.
Sukesh Aghara, chair of the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization, noted in an email to NEDHO members and others that “Gil was a relentless advocate for nuclear energy and a deeply respected member of our professional community. He was also a kind and generous friend—and one of the reasons I ended up at UMass Lowell. He served the university with great dedication. . . . Within NEDHO, Gil was a steady presence and served for many years as our treasurer. His contributions to nuclear engineering education and to this community will be dearly missed.”
Fatih Ekinci, Erkan Bostanci, Mehmet Serdar Güzel, Özlem Dagli
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 8 | August 2023 | Pages 1229-1239
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2188144
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Biomaterials are indispensable elements for improving human health and quality of life. Applications of biomaterials include the use of phantoms as tissue replacement in diagnostics (biosensors), medical supplies (blood bags and surgical instruments), therapeutic treatments (medical implants and devices), regenerative medicine (tissue engineered skin and cartilage), and radiation dosimetric studies. Since polymers are organic, they offer a much more versatile usage area than metals and ceramic biomaterials, particularly in soft tissue substitutes. The wide physical, mechanical, and chemical properties provided by polymers have encouraged extensive research, development, and application of polymeric biomaterials. Their usage as a soft tissue phantom is at the forefront of these applications.
In this study, the ionization, recoils, phonon release, collision events, and lateral straggle properties of polymeric biomaterials [e.g., polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA), polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinylchloride] closest to soft tissue are investigated in carbon therapy application. The Brag peak location achieved for PMMA is quite close to that of soft tissue, within 4.8%, average recoils within 0.5%, and collision event parameter within 0.6%, however, lateral scattering is comparatively larger by roughly 6.8%, according to TRIM-based Monte Carlo simulation results. Thus, when carbon ion is taken into account, the current findings show that PMMA is one of the possible polymeric biomaterials to simulate soft tissue in terms of radiation interaction properties.
