This 2-day course provides an overall review of the basic principles that underlie the operation of the major types of instruments used in the detection and spectroscopy of charged particles, gamma rays, and other forms of ionizing radiation. Examples of both established applications and recent developments are drawn from areas including particle physics, nuclear medicine, homeland security, and general radiation spectroscopy. Emphasis is on understanding the fundamental processes that govern the operation of radiation detectors, rather than on operational details that are unique to specific commercial instruments. This course does not cover radiation dosimetry or health physics instrumentation. The level of presentation is best suited to those with some prior background in radiation measurements, but can also serve to introduce topics that may be outside their experience base. A copy of the textbook “Radiation Detection and Measurement”, 3rd Edition, by G. Knoll and a set of course notes are provided to registrants.

Course Outline:

1. Gas-Filled Detectors
2. Scintillation Counters
3. Semiconductor Detectors
4. Front-end Electronics for Radiation Detectors
5. Recent Detector Developments and Summary

Graham C. Smith is a physicist in the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He received a Ph.D in Physics from Durham University, England in 1974, followed by postdoctoral work in nuclear electronics and detector instrumentation for X-ray Astronomy at Leicester University. In 1982 he joined Brookhaven’s Instrumentation Division to participate in development of high accuracy position-sensitive detectors and electronics, becoming a tenured staff member in 1994. He received Brookhaven’s Research and Development Award in 1996, and the IEEE Long Island Regional Award for Contributions to High Energy Physics in 1998. He has an active research program in development of detectors, particularly gas-based detectors, for ionizing radiation measurement in synchrotron, neutron and particle physics experiments.

Stephen E. Derenzo is a Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Head of the Medical Imaging Technology Department in the Life Sciences Division, and Professor-in-Residence in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at UC Berkeley. He and his colleagues constructed two pioneering positron emission tomographs (PET) and developed advanced scintillation detectors for PET that provide high spatial resolution, depth-of-interaction information, and compact integrated circuit readout. For the past 19 years he has lead a search for new heavy scintillators and currently heads a project for the discovery of scintillation detector materials that uses automation to increase the rate of synthesis and characterization. He has authored or co-authored over 190 technical publications and seven patents. He has received two awards from the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society: the Merit Award in 1992 and the Radiation Instrumentation Outstanding Achievement Award in 2001. He became an IEEE Fellow in 2000.

Eugene E. Haller is Professor of Materials Science at UC Berkeley and holds the Liao-Cho Innovation Endowed Chair and a joint appointment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he heads the Electronic Materials Program. He received his Ph.D. degree in nuclear and applied physics from the University of Basel, Switzerland for surface studies of large volume p-i-n germanium diodes used as gamma-ray detectors. His research interests cover a wide spectrum of semiconductor topics including basic semiconductor physics, thin film and bulk crystal growth and advanced detectors for electromagnetic radiation ranging from the far-infrared to gamma rays. He has authored and co-authored over 800 scientific/technical publications. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and AAAS, has won an Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award in 1986, two Miller Research Professorships in 1990 and 2001, the Max-Planck-Research Prize in 1994, the James McGroddy Prize for New Materials of the American Physical Society in March 1999 and the David Turnbull Lectureship Award of the Materials Research Society in 2005. He held visiting professorships at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, at the Imperial College in London, at the DLR (German Aerospace Corporation) in Berlin, at the Paul-Drude-Institute in Berlin and at the University of Münster, Münster, Germany. In 2004 he has been a Distinguished Professor at Keio University in Japan. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the "Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids," of "Materials Science Foundations" and of the "Journal of Applied Physics Reviews."

Helmuth Spieler is a Senior Physicist in the Physics Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the Technical University in Munich in 1974 and has worked in many areas of instrumentation, both as a user and a designer. Much of his instrumentation work has been on large-scale semiconductor detector systems and ASICs for high energy physics experiments at high-luminosity colliders. He has served on numerous review panels for major detectors in the U.S., Europe and Japan, both for ground and space-based experiments. He is internationally known for his tutorial courses on detectors and signal processing and is active in outreach projects with local high school science teachers. His current research centers on superconducting bolometer arrays for cosmic microwave background experiments (South Pole Telescope, APEX-SZ, PolarBear), radiation-resistant detectors and electronics for the Super LHC (ATLAS), and detector systems for nuclear non-proliferation monitoring. He is the author of the book Semiconductor Detector Systems published by Oxford University Press.

Glenn F. Knoll is Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan, maintaining an active schedule of participation in research, writing, and professional consulting. He joined the Michigan faculty in 1962, and served as Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Engineering from 1979 to 1990, and as Interim Dean of the College of Engineering in 1995-96. His research interests have centered on radiation measurements, nuclear instrumentation, and radiation imaging. He is author or co-author of over 200 technical publications, 7 patents, and 2 textbooks. In 1999 he was inducted to membership in the National Academy of Engineering. In 2000 he received the highest faculty award from the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan, the Stephen E. Attwood Award. He has served as consultant to over 30 industrial and governmental organizations in technical areas related to radiation measurements. He is a Fellow of IEEE, was selected for the 1996 IEEE/NPSS Merit Award, and in 2000 was a recipient of the Third Millennium Medal of the Society.
 

This one day course will introduce the application of nuclear science generally and radiation detection methods specifically in the area of homeland security. This course is intended primarily for those who have some familiarity with nuclear science and radiation detection and would like to better understand homeland security applications and the science and technology issues unique to them. This course will therefore focus on relevant scientific concepts and technology development and deployment issues. The course will touch on, but not focus on, existing commercial instruments and systems deployed for homeland security applications. Prospective students with a general physics or engineering background but little preparation in the area of nuclear science are welcome but are very strongly encouraged to study the book Radiation Detection and Measurement (3’rd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2000) by Professor Glenn Knoll prior to the course.

The course will start by defining what is meant by homeland security and discuss the general areas in which nuclear science expertise and technology comes into play for homeland security applications. A discussion of the operational environments typically encountered along with specific examples will be provided. A generic discussion of threat classes and their associated measurement methods will be given. The course will describe the basic classes of gamma-ray and neutron detection instrumentation considered for deployment and help students understand how decisions are made with respect to their use. The critical topic of “backgrounds” will be described including both natural radiation background and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). Approaches for data collection, analysis, and decision-making for various applied scenarios will be discussed. The role of advanced materials development, particularly the development of room temperature high resolution gamma ray spectrometers, in aiding homeland security applications will be described. The application of a variety of advanced radiation detection methods including imaging, collimation, pulse shape discrimination, and alternative signatures will be covered. Active and radiographical methods and their roles in homeland security will be described.
 

Dr. Anthony Peurrung has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley. His research has entailed contributions to a variety of fields within fundamental and applied physics including fluid mechanics, plasma physics, medical physics, separations science, environmental remediation, nuclear physics, and radiation detection methods and applications. Since 1994, Anthony has worked in the National Security Directorate of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a staff scientist, technical group manager, and currently is the director of the Physical and Chemical Sciences Division. His research interests include such topics as special nuclear material detection and characterization and fundamental advances in the areas of neutron detection and spectrometry. Anthony is a long standing member of the DOE’s Radiation Detection Panel and held the senior non-federal leadership role representing the DOE laboratory complex during the startup of DHS’s radiological/nuclear countermeasures science and technology program.

Dr. Eric Smith is a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working in the area of applied radiation detection. His primary research areas of interest are modeling and simulation of homeland/national security scenarios, multi-coincidence trace radionuclide detection techniques, and next-generation radiation sensor technologies. Eric is active in DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office R&D and assessment programs, and is a technical advisor to the US Customs and Border Protection’s Radiation Portal Monitor program. Eric has also served as PNNL’s representative to DOE’s Nonproliferation Research and Engineering Radiation Detection Panel. Prior to joining PNNL in 2001, he was a staff member at Argonne National Laboratory and led projects in nondestructive assay and waste characterization. Eric received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Nuclear and Radiological Sciences from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Glen Warren is a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working in the areas of active interrogation and applied radiation detection. His primary research interest is the application of nuclear resonance fluorescence and other active interrogation techniques to a variety of national and homeland security applications. In addition, Glen specializes in the modeling of complex radiation detectors and the analyses of the data resulting from these systems. Before joining PNNL in 2003, Glen’s research was focused on the electromagnetic structure of the neutron by conducting experiments at electron scattering facilities such as the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Glen received a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from the College of William and Mary, and his Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  

 

This one-day course is intended to introduce physicists and detector specialists to the fundamentals of integrated circuit front end design. The class begins with a discussion of low-noise signal processing and semiconductor devices and then delves into the details of implementing practical circuits in modern CMOS technology. A basic knowledge of detectors and electronics is assumed.

Course Outline

1. Pulse Processing Fundamentals
- Signal formation in detectors
- Noise and gain mechanisms
- Pulse processing for amplitude and timing extraction

2. Semiconductor Technology for Integrated Circuit Front Ends
- Operation and characteristics of MOS and bipolar transistors
- Sub-micron CMOS and BICMOS technology
- Feature size scaling
- Radiation effects and reliability
- Mixed-signal circuits

3. Analog circuit design
- The IC design process and CAD tools
- Foundry access, multiproject services
- Building blocks for the analog channel: charge-sensitive and pulse-shaping amplifiers, baseline stabilizers, peak detectors, track/hold, multiplexers, output stages
- Analog-to-digital and time-to-digital converters (ADC and TDC)

4. Packaging and Interconnect

5. Application examples

Course registration fee includes lunch and refreshments, a copy of the lecture notes, and a certificate of completion.

Veljko Radeka, Senior Scientist and Head of Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National laboratory. His interests have been in scientific instruments, radiation detectors, noise and signal processing, and low noise electronics. He authored or co-authored about 170 publications. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of APS.

Paul O’Connor is associate Head of the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He has a Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics from Brown University and worked from 1980-1990 at AT&T Bell Laboratories prior to joining BNL. His research interests are in the field of instrumentation systems for radiation detection, particularly low noise analog CMOS front-end circuits. He is author and co-author of about 50 publications and has been an IEEE member since 1980.

 

This course is an introduction to programming and applications of graphics processing unit (GPU) in medical imaging. Driven by the computer game industry, the development of graphics hardware experienced tremendous growth in recent years. Due to parallel computational architecture as well as availability of GPU hardware implemented geometrical functions used frequently in data analysis and reconstruction, the GPU offers readily available fast computational resource that can be used in medical imaging applications. However, the GPU programming model is substantially different than standard Von Neumann architecture used for the programming of the CPUs. The course will introduce computational model of the GPU in the context of basic computer graphics and general purpose computing. Introduction to programming using C for Graphics (Cg) and GLSH will be given. In the second part of the course advanced topics including implementations of the tomographic reconstructions of the X-Ray computed tomography and list-mode emission tomography data will be presented. Applications of the GPU for fast analytical calculations of Compton Scatter fractions in emission tomography will also be discussed. Basic knowledge of C programming language is recommended.

Guillem Pratx, M.S. is a doctoral candidate in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, conducting his dissertation research within a laboratory in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS). His dissertation focus has been on the research and development of practical algorithms that exploit graphics processing units (GPU) for fast medical image reconstruction, focusing particularly on ultra-high resolution PET systems under development at Stanford. In support of his work he has received several fellowships, including the NVIDIA fellowship, the Society of Nuclear Medicine Bradley-Alavi student fellowship, and the Stanford Bio-X graduate student fellowship.
Sven Prevrhal, Ph.D. is a physicist and Assistant Adjunct Professor at the Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco. He received his Ph.D. in 1997 at the Technical University Vienna, Austria and is currently interested in the development of advanced tomographic reconstruction techniques for Computed Tomography to remove artifacts created by metallic hardware.
Arkadiusz Sitek, Ph.D. is a physicist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Medical School. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in 1998. His main research interests are focused on alternative three-dimensional medical image representations and visualizations. Dr. Sitek is an expert C/C++ programmer with experience in programming of the GPU for medical applications.


 

This course will survey the state of the art in gamma-ray detectors for PET and SPECT, with a discussion of emerging technologies as well as traditional semiconductor and scintillator devices. The course will begin with a discussion of detector physics, cover signal generation, analog and digital pulse processing techniques, triggering, and acquisition strategies. Considerable emphasis will be placed on statistical characterization of the detectors and on optimal estimation methods that take the statistical properties into account. Lecture topics will include:

• Survey of technologies for gamma-ray detection
• Detector requirements for SPECT and PET
• State of the art in scintillation detectors
• State of the art in semiconductor detectors
• Statistical modeling and estimation methods
• Event triggering and coincidence techniques
• Data acquisition systems
• Examples of applications

Dr. Furenlid was educated at the University of Arizona and the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is currently a Professor at the University of Arizona and associate director of the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging, with appointments in the Department of Radiology and the College of Optical Sciences. He was a staff scientist at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. His major research area is the development and application of detectors, electronics, and systems for biomedical imaging.

Dr. Barrett was educated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, MIT and Harvard. He is currently a Regents Professor at the University of Arizona, with appointments in the College of Optical Sciences, the Dept. of Radiology and the programs in Applied Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering. He is director of the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging and a fellow of the IEEE. In collaboration with Kyle J. Myers, he has written a book entitled Foundations of Image Science, which in 2006 was awarded the First Biennial J. W. Goodman Book Writing Award from OSA and SPIE.

Dr. Lewellen was educated at Occidental College and the University of Washington. He is currently a Professor at the University of Washington, with appointments in the Department of Radiology (School of Medicine) and Electrical Engineering. He is director of the Nuclear Medicine Physics Group and a senior member of the IEEE. His major research is in the development of electronics and detector systems for SPECT and PET.

 

This course is intended as an introduction to fundamental concepts of Molecular Biology presented from the perspective of integrating imaging techniques with the emerging concepts of personalized medicine and systems biology. In this context, the revolution that has taken place during the last decade in genetics and molecular biology can be traced back to the development of techniques that enabled scientists to manipulate and analyze genetic material. These approaches, together with new data-gathering technologies such as genomics, proteomics and imaging have a significant potential for translation into medically relevant knowledge.

The success of this endeavor depends largely on the creation of an interactive, inter-disciplinary scientific culture in which experts in engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science join biologists to ensure the efficient integration of new technologies. Opportunities for such inter-disciplinary interactions and relevant examples will be emphasized during the Molecular Biology course. Moreover, this year, the course will attempt to illustrate fundamental concepts in Molecular Biology using specific examples of molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of human diseases in general and cancer in particular. Potential imaging applications to study such disease-causing mechanisms will also be discussed.

Course Outline:

Part 1: Nucleic Acids and the Synthesis of Macromolecules

• DNA Replication and Repair
• From DNA to RNA to Protein
• Gene Regulation

Part 2: The Cell

• Biomembranes, Subcellular Organization of Eukaryotic Cells, Membrane Transport Mechanisms
• Cell Signaling
• Regulation of Cell Division and Cell Death

Part 3: Molecular Biology Techniques

• DNA Engineering, Gene Replacement, Transgenic Animals, RNA interference
• Recombinant Antibody Technology
• Large scale analyses of gene and protein expression (DNA Microarrays, Proteomics and an Introduction to Systems Biology)

Dr. Radu is an Assistant Professor in the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging and the Department of Medical & Molecular Pharmacology at UCLA. Dr. Radu’s research interest is directed towards applying molecular imaging approaches such as Positron Emission Tomography to monitor immune responses in cancer and autoimmune disorders. A significant focus of this work is development of novel PET imaging probes specific for activated lymphocytes and of non-immunogenic PET reporter gene systems for in vivo cell-tracking studies.
 

Statistical methods for image reconstruction have attracted growing interests with the advances in instrumentation, computer technologies, fast reconstruction algorithms, and emerging biomedical applications demanding high-resolution images. The recent commercial adoption of iterative algorithms in clinical and animal scanners also facilitates its wide spread utilization. This course will provide an orderly overview of statistical reconstruction methods with applications to PET, SPECT, and X-ray CT. The course will start with fundamental issues of statistical reconstruction, including the choice of objective functions, regularization, and optimization algorithms, and how each affects image quality. It will then cover specific topics in modeling photon transport in PET, SPECT, X-ray CT and the compensation of the imperfectness in different imaging systems. In all cases, numerous examples will be presented.

Prerequisite knowledge includes basics knowledge of the physics of medical imaging systems, statistics, and elementary linear algebra.

Larry Zeng, Ph.D., is a Professor in Utah Center for Advanced Imaging Research in the Department of Radiology at the University of Utah. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Mexico. He came to the University of Utah as a postdoctoral fellow and then joined the faculty in the Department of Radiology. His major research interests are in SPECT image reconstruction, for both analytical and iterative algorithm development. He also works on novel imaging geometries, such as rotating slat collimation and skew-slit collimation.

Johan Nuyts, Ph.D., is a professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, at the department of Nuclear Medicine. He obtained his PhD in applied sciences at the same university. His major research interests are image reconstruction in SPECT, PET and CT, and nuclear medicine image analysis.

Bruno De Man, Ph.D., is a researcher in the CT and X-ray Laboratory at the GE Global Research Center in Niskayuna, NY. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Leuven. His research interests include CT iterative reconstruction and novel CT architectures.

 

Recent advances in medicine, molecular biology and genomic research create an enormous demand for accurate, quantitative and functional in-vivo information about physiology and metabolism on a molecular, cellular and organ level. This demand can be particularly well addressed by dynamic imaging techniques which use radioisotopes and investigate nuclear and/or molecular magnetic fields.

This full day course will present an overview of dynamic functional imaging, with a particular focus on emission tomography. We will discuss data acquisition and processing methods that are currently used in dynamic PET and SPECT studies in both clinical and research environments.

Important advances that have been achieved in this field in the last years rely heavily on modern mathematics and computer science methods to reconstruct, process, analyze and display dynamic data. Different data processing and analysis methods will be discussed, ranging from creation of time-activity curves (TAC's) to estimation of tracer kinetic parameters, determination of input functions to construction of full kinetic models of the investigated physiological processes. Computer-based demonstration of fitting of TACs to kinetic models using a variety of methods will be included

Organizer:

Anna Celler received her PhD (1980) in Nuclear Physics from the University of Warsaw, Poland. She is currently Associate Professor at the Department of Radiology and Associate Member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, at University of British Columbia (Vancouver, Canada) and Department of Mathematics at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, Canada). Her research interests include quantitative and dynamic nuclear medicine, dual-isotope studies, dosimetry for internal therapy, new medical imaging methods and general use of sophisticated mathematical methods in imaging. In parallel, she holds a clinical position of Senior Medical Physicist at the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and is involved in everyday clinical activities of Nuclear Medicine departments of several Vancouver hospitals.

Instructors:

Stephen Bacharach received his Ph.D. in 1969 from Cornell University. He is currently Visiting Professor of Radiology, at the Center for Molecular and Functional Imaging, University of California, San Francisco. He recently retired from the National Institutes of Health, where he was Senior Tenured Scientist, in the Imaging Sciences Program. His principal interests have been in methods to extract quantitatively accurate physiologic information from nuclear images (PET, SPECT and planar). He has over 200 full publications and book chapters, many in the aforementioned area.

Richard E. Carson, Ph.D. received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1983 in Biomathematics. He is currently Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Diagnostic Radiology at Yale University and is co-Director of the Yale PET Center. His research interests have concentrated on three main areas: 1) New algorithms for image reconstruction with PET, 2) Development of mathematical models for novel radiopharmaceuticals, and 3) Studies of neuroreceptors in the human brain for the assessment of dynamic changes in neurotransmitters by analysis of PET tracer signal..

Grant Gullberg received his PhD in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley (1979). He is currently Senior Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Adjunct Professor of Radiology and Bioengineering at the University of California San Francisco. His research interests involve the study of inverse problems with application to medicine and biology that involve the use of PET, SPECT, and MRI. His current research focuses on improving the imaging of cardiac function using finite element mechanical computer models, animal models, and human studies to develop better methods to image heart failure.

Henry Huang, D.Sc. is Professor in Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Biomathematics at UCLA. He has been working on tracer kinetic modeling and quantification methods for PET for over 30 years. His recent research includes the derivation of input functions and the development of quantification methods for mouse PET imaging, virtual experimentation of mouse PET kinetics, and automation of quantification methods.
 

This full-day course is intended to introduce the fundamentals of image quality in medical imaging to engineers and physicists with no experience in this field. The class begins with a short overview of the principles of image quality with an emphasis on the statistical nature of this topic. We then present an in-depth description of the stochastic properties of objects and images relevant to medical imaging, including representations for random objects, noise properties of imaging systems, and models for the statistics of reconstructed data sets. Basic units on image quality for classification and estimation tasks follow. The afternoon will include presentations on psychophysical experimental methods and approaches to the analysis of the resulting data from human observers as well as methods for computation of model observer performance. Finally, applications to nuclear medicine, including experimental results from a range of investigators and institutions, will be presented. This course will draw heavily from the book Foundations of Image Science, by H.H. Barrett and K.J. Myers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2004. A copy of the textbook can be purchased at the time of the course.

Organizers:

Matthew A. Kupinski, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences and Radiology at the University of Arizona. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2000 and joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in 2002. He has published numerous papers and book chapters on image quality and image science. His research interests include observer models, ideal-observer computations, and imaging hardware optimization.

Kyle J. Myers, Ph.D., received a bachelors degree in Mathematics and Physics from Occidental College in 1980, and a Ph.D. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona in 1985. Following a post-doc at the University of Arizona, she worked in the research labs of Corning Inc. Since 1987 she has worked for the Center for Devices and Radiological Health of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she is currently the Director of the NIBIB/CDRH Laboratory for the Assessment of Medical Imaging Systems. Along with Harrison H. Barrett, she is the coauthor of Foundations of Imaging Science, published in 2004 and winner of the First Biennial J.W. Goodman Book Writing Award from OSA and SPIE.

Instructors:

Harrison H. Barrett, Ph.D., was educated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, MIT and Harvard. He is currently a Regents Professor at the University of Arizona, with appointments in the College of Optical Sciences, the Dept. of Radiology and the programs in Applied Mathematics and Biomedical Engineering. He is director of the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging and a fellow of the IEEE. In collaboration with Kyle J. Myers, he has written a book entitled Foundations of Image Science, which in 2006 was awarded the First Biennial J. W. Goodman Book Writing Award from OSA and SPIE.

Brandon D. Gallas, Ph.D., is a mathematician at the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health, working in the NIBIB/CDRH Laboratory for the Assessment of Medical Imaging Systems. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2001. His research and regulatory work focuses on two broad areas: assessing reader performance and evaluating image quality. He has a wealth of experience running psychophysics experiments and has developed estimates of the uncertainty in the resulting performance estimates. In the field of image quality, he has advanced the field's ability for efficiently estimating the ideal linear observer.

Eric C. Frey, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Division of Medical Imaging Physics in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. From 1988-2002 he was a postdoctoral fellow and then on the faculty in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His major research interests are in SPECT image reconstruction with compensation for image degrading factors, dual isotope imaging, quantitative imaging for targeted radionuclide therapy dosimetry, evaluation and optimization of imaging systems and reconstruction algorithms, and reconstruction and instrumentation