See The Campus Radiation Safety Officers (CRSO) website for more information.
The Campus Radiation Safety Officers (CRSO) is an informal organization of University and Hospital RSO's and/or their designees. The first conference was held in 1967 at the Georgia Institute of Technology. John Tolan was one of the founding fathers (see related article in the August 1999 issue of the Health Physics Society Newsletter). A conference is held every two years in May/June.
For more information on the CRSO, contact President Ninni Jacob
See The Campus Radiation Safety Officers (CRSO) website for more information.
Notes From the President
The Campus Radiation Safety Officers (CRSO) seventeenth biennial conference was held at MIT from June 20-24, 1999. There were about 140 attendees, including vendors. The participants were mainly RSOs or their designates from universities and hospitals in the U.S.A., and Canada.
The topics of discussion included security of radioactive materials, low-level radioactive waste, operational health physics, radiation safety training, non-ionizing radiation and a session on medical radionuclide therapy safety issues. On the last day, a DOT Transportation Course and a Non Ionizing Radiation Training session were held. All the presentations were of an operational nature and very relevant to the participants, and hence there was good attendance at all the sessions. The speakers included CRSO members and outstanding persons like Dr. Emmet Barkley, Director, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, two NECHPS members: Keith Dinger, President, Health Physics Society, and Dr. Jacob Shapiro, who needs no introduction.
We had a good turnout of vendors, including some whose booths and display material did not show up. They had fun, nevertheless. The vendor booths were stocked with useful information about new products and were well patronized. The vendors held a raffle at the end.
Bill Schadt, an Ancient Goat, retired as President of the CRSO after ten years of service. The group was appreciative of his work all these years. Several members received the Old Goat Award, and the Very Old Goat Award. Ninni Jacob of Brown University was elected as the new CRSO President, and Paul Steinmeyer has taken on duties as the official "Keeper of the List".
The participants were welcomed with an opening reception hosted by Landauer, and Canberra/ Packard. The setting and the food were great. On Wednesday, there was a dinner cruise aboard the Spirit of Boston, which was tremendously enjoyed by all the participants, their spouses and children. The group was very friendly and informal. The MIT Conference services made mention of this fact and said they had not come across a group like this before.
The next CRSO meeting will be held May 13-17, 2001, and will be hosted by Pauline Jones and her group at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This will be a joint meeting of the Canadian Radiation Protection Association (CRPA) and the CRSO. Mark your calendars!
Thanks to Mitch Galanek, Bill McCarthy and the MIT conference services for their efforts in making all the arrangements. Thanks to Rusty for taking the photographs. Everybody appreciated that feature. Thanks to Karin Gordon for coordinating the Medical Session. Much appreciation is extended to all the speakers and participants too, without whom this very successful conference would not have been possible. Thanks to NECHPS for donating the binders for the conference.