Ronald Tosh (Fed)

Ron Tosh is a physicist in the Radiation Physics Division working in the Dosimetry Group on standards and instrumentation for absorbed dose. He joined NIST in 2004 after several years as a sales engineer for National Instruments (now NI). Prior to that, he did experimental research in molecular-beam scattering as a postdoc in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware. He received both M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, with a research emphasis in atomic physics and gaseous electronics.

Current projects at NIST include development of calorimetry standards for absorbed dose in beams of gamma rays, x-rays, electrons and protons used in medicine and industry. Research activities are focused on dosimetry in radiation fields with large spatial gradients and high dose rates, with applications in radiotherapy, irradiation of surfaces, and radiosensitivity of semiconductor microdevices and biological systems.

Highlights

Photonic Radiation Sensors Survive Huge Doses Undamaged
Calibrating Cancer Radiotherapy Beams Using Light and Sound
Using Calorimetry to Estimate Absorbed Dose from CT Scans

Projects and Research

Photonic Dosimetry
Remote Sensing Methods for Imaging Dose to Water
Electron and Proton Absorbed-Dose-to-Water Primary Standards

Awards

U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal – for contributions to standards for x-ray scanning systems used in transportation security screening.