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Development of a Graduate Course in Neutron Interactions and their Applications in Nuclear Science and Engineering

Introduction

In the past decade their have been many new and improved applications in neutron science and engineering covering a wide array of topics. While there are still many detailed books on neutron transport and neutron physics, neutron radiography, neutron activation analysis and prompt-gamma activation analysis, little or no attention has been given to the development of a comprehensive graduate course encompassing the analytical applications of neutrons in the wide range of fields. This course was set up so that each graduate student would be responsible to prepare one-two week’s worth of lectures on series of topics. This team design approach allowed a unique opportunity for graduate students to be involved in the educational process and gives them an understanding of the complexities of course preparation.

The course instructor was responsible to develop two of the subjects History of Neutron Research and Neutron Activation Analysis. The remainder subjects were divided among the eight graduate students including two distance learning ones. The subjects included Fundamental Principles of Neutron Interactions, Neutron Detection, Neutron Dosimetry, Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, Neutron Depth Profile, Neutron Radiography, Neutron Generation from Particle Accelerators, and Neutron Scattering.

Choice of Topics

The topics were chosen as to have a mixture of lectures written with expertise by the course instructor (History of Neutron Science and Neutron Activation Analysis) and graduate students who had completed Masters theses in two of the topics (Neutron Radiography and Neutron Depth Profile) with those subject matters developed for the first time by graduate students. Two topics in Fundamental Principles of Neutron Interactions and Neutron Detection were given to students who had undergraduate physics degrees and who naturally felt more comfortable with the content. One topic in neutron shielding and Monte Carlo methods was dropped since the distance learning graduate student decided to take the course as an independent study later on. Another topic of neutrons in space applications was also eliminated since the graduate student changed to another engineering field and no longer was in the program.

Criteria Used to Develop the Lectures

The lectures above all were developed in a rigorous manner and not to be of survey type quality. Each lecture was prepared to be a stand alone presentation and thus could be given in any order, with the exception of the first two, History of Neutron Science and Fundamental Principles of Neutron Interactions. There were several essential criteria agreed among the graduate students to develop the course. These conditions included:

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Landsberger, S., & Schneider, E., & Haas, D., & Matavosian, R., & Reinert, D., & Sayre, G., & Smith, M., & Weaver, C., & Whitney, S., & Whittaker, I. (2007, June), Development Of A Graduate Course In Neutron Interactions And Their Applications In Nuclear Science And Engineering Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1977