Answer to Question #4355 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

I am a Radiation Health Technician in the U.S. Navy. I have been in this position for four years. The job I am trained to do is very similar to the Navy ELT (engineering laboratory technician) but only more on the medical side. What kind of jobs/training would this enable me to get?

You have a wonderful opportunity. Navy training is well regarded throughout the industry. You could probably enter the health physics workforce without any extra training as a health physics technician. There is currently a tremendous demand for health physics technicians throughout the industry that is by and large going unfilled. However, a more pertinent question for you is at what level of work do you want to be employed? As mentioned, the level of technician is wide open to someone with your present level of experience. However, you would not be eligible for many professional-level jobs available throughout the nuclear industry without at least a bachelor's degree.

Navy training is limited to that information which is necessary to function as a fleet sailor with defined responsibility over a pretty small, closed, well-engineered system. An individual with such experience may find great benefit in taking the opportunity to further his/her educational experience. I say opportunity because a person might take advantage of the GI bill or might find work/study opportunities around most large universities working with a radiation safety program.

I have had many former Navy enlisted men/women in my undergraduate and graduate radiation physics courses. They usually do well, partly because they are well disciplined and a bit more mature than the typical traditional student and  partly because they have had experiences that help them relate things discussed in the classroom to actual practice. All the Navy folks who have taken such university courses seem to report that they have gained a detailed understanding over the topics of radiation physics that were not provided by the Navy. This does not mean the Navy program is bad; on the contrary, it is an excellent program. But, its focus is limited to what the Navy needs folks to know. Those individual who have pursued advanced degrees and have taken the time to learn the details and many nuances of internal and external dosimetry, radiation biology, nuclear instrumentation, and a host of ancillary courses including calculus and statistics drive up their own stock considerably. Advanced-degree programs provide many benefits, like opportunities to enhance your written and oral communication skills, which will be necessary if you are to succeed as a professional in health physics.

My answer to your question can be summarized in a few sentences. You have everything you need to enter and succeed in a very lucrative level of the health physics profession as a technician. If you have higher aspiration, that is to say, if you want to become a mover and a shaker in a profession which is greatly in need of new young folks, than I strongly encourage you to go back to school and obtain at least a BS in health physics and perhaps even an MS in health physics. This investment in your time will be well worth the effort. I suspect that if you look into it a bit, you will find the resources to further your education are easily attainable and will be sufficient to support you and even your family if you can live in a fiscally conservative fashion for a few years.

Richard R. Brey, PhD, CHP

Editor's Note: For more information see the Academic and Training Opportunities page.