About half of the time will be devoted to learning about and doing a hands-on project in Machine Learning, led by Dr. Jorge Munoz (UTEP). Other activities and tours at TAMU will bridge the gap between IP and nuclear engineering.

The HIPPO Campus held at the University of Utah will focus on radionuclide production in nuclear reactors. The University of Utah houses a 100 kW TRIGA reactor that will be utilized for these efforts. Students will learn about how reactors work, neutron induced nuclear reactions, flux measurements, theoretical and measured production yields, gamma spectroscopy, and important considerations for reactor production of radionuclides of interest for medical applications. Students will get to work in the reactor facility in addition to receiving hands on experience with equipment necessary to measure the flux and production yields of their experiments.

The week-long experience at the University of Wisconsin will combine laboratory-based instruction with lectures and demonstrations of isotope science. Each day will include opportunities for community and network development, experience broadening, and social activities as unstructured activities unique to Madison. Days will share a common format, with the morning devoted to presentation, explanation, and discussion of the day’s planned activities, followed by the beginning of structured experimental efforts before lunch, a private “working-lunch” style gathering with a research presentation from a member of the local UW graduate student or postdoc group. After lunch, students will complete the day’s laboratory work before ending the day with a 1-hour debrief and invited guest lecture. On Day 1, laboratory work will focus on cyclotron irradiations and radiometric characterization of activated materials. Day 2 will focus on radiochemical processing of irradiated targets through a nuclear chemical separation, and quality control assessment of the resulting purified radionuclide. Day 3 will focus on radiolabeling, purifying, and application of radiopharmaceuticals. Day 4 will include tours of University of Wisconsin facilities including the UW Nuclear Reactor at the Max Carbon Radiation Science Center and the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery Fabrication Laboratory.

Pictures from the 2023 campus

HIPPOCampus teaching assistant and participants preparing for radiochemical separations in the UW-M radiochemistry lab. From left: Taylor Johnson (UW-M), Shefali (UAB), Aidan Bender (UU), and Hong Beom Lee (UW-M)

HIPPOCampus participants preconditioning an extraction chromatography column for radiochemical separations in the UW-M radiochemistry lab. From left: Shefali (UAB) and Aidan Bender (UU).

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UW-M HIPPOCampus participants and faculty at the Memorial Union Terrace after the isotope production and applications career question and answer session. From left: Erick Brady (SJSU), Paul Ellison (UW-M), Shefali (UAB), Jonathan Engle (UW-M), Hong Beom Lee (UW-M), and Aidan Bender (UU).

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Pictures from the 2022 campus

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Faculty (Lapi/Burns) will host undergraduate and graduate students and provide an immersive experience with hands-on activities with cyclotron targetry using the TR24 cyclotron as well as downstream purification and analysis techniques. Students will also interact with current group members including undergraduates, graduate students, staff scientists, radiopharmacists and other collaborating faculty members. Trainees will also be exposed to concepts related to the production of isotopes for small animal imaging and for human use radiopharmaceuticals.

The workshop at Notre Dame will focus on the use of accelerators to produce long-lived radioisotopes. Accordingly we will spend a couple days on the principles of operation and routine use of electrostatic accelerators and ancillary systems, such as vacuum systems, ion sources, electromagnetic focusing and steering, and common detector systems. Since the nuclear science laboratory at Notre Dame routinely operates 3 accelerators on site and 1 accelerator off site, there will be opportunities for some hands-on training. This will include activities such as tuning an ion source and accelerator beam optics, measuring and optimizing beam on target and offline counting experiments. In addition to basic operation of an accelerator, we will concurrently have lectures and activities to help design and optimize typical radioisotope production experiments.