Matt Grypp was awarded first place among graduate participants at the South Texas Chapter of the Health Physics Society’s annual Student Presentation Competition. Grypp is a Ph.D. student working with Dr. Craig Marianno on the SHIELD Project (Smuggled HEU Interdiction through Enhanced anaLysis and Detection) to develop detector systems to be used in border monitoring. His presentation, “Gamma Radiation Detection from a Spreader-Bar Crane at the Port of Tacoma,” focused on gamma measurement experiments conducted in August 2011 at the Port of Tacoma’s Rail Test Center. Radiation detectors were attached to a spreader bar crane, and measurements were taken for 24 hours while the crane unloaded a ship. Grypp built the detector pods used to take the measurements, which are being used to determine minimum detectable activities for crane mounted systems.
The HPS Presentation Competition was held at the Burkhart Auditorium on the Texas A&M University campus on Saturday, April 14, 2012. Participants included students from Texas State Technical College (TSTC), Prairie View A&M University, the University of Houston-Downtown, the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and Texas A&M University.