Program Overview

Online M.A.S. in Health Physics Program Courses

The online health physics degree program at Illinois Tech is designed for working professionals and can be completed in just one year. It consists of 11 eight-week courses plus a virtual lab component to provide practical experience.

Curriculum Details

• The program encompasses 11 courses and 31 credits.
• The course duration is 8 weeks.
• The curriculum includes seven core courses, two health physics electives, and two professional electives.

Core Courses

• PHYS 550 Radiation Instrumentation Laboratory (Credit Hours: 3) This course explores how to detect and measure radioactive material and radiation levels, which depends upon many types of detectors and instrumentation.
• PHYS 561 Radiation Biophysics (Credit Hours: 3) This course explores topics such as energy loss by ionizing radiation, target theory, direct and indirect action, radiation effects in biomolecules, and radiation inactivation of enzymes, nucleic acids, and viruses.
• PHYS 571 Radiation Physics (Credit Hours: 3) Fundamentals of Radiation Physics will be presented with an emphasis on problem-solving.
• PHYS 572 Introduction to Health Physics (Credit Hours: 3) This course explores the health physics profession, including units in radiation protection, radiation sources, interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, and detectors for radiation protection.
• PHYS 573 Standards, Statutes and Regulations (Credit Hours: 3) This course studies the requirements of agencies that regulate radiation hazards, their basis in law, and the underlying United States and international standards.
• PHYS 575 Case Studies in Health Physics 1 (Credit Hours: 3) This is a non-instructional course designed to promote the understanding of radiation safety through lessons learned from the past incidents.
• PHYS 576 Radiation Dosimetry (Credit Hours: 3) This course is designed to study the science and technique of determining radiation dose and is fundamental to evaluating radiation hazards and risks to humans.

Health Physics Electives

Choose 2 courses from the following:

• PHYS 566 Environmental Health Physics (Credit Hours: 2) This course examines the impact of ionizing radiation and radionuclides on the environment.
• PHYS 577 Operational Health Physics (Credit Hours: 2) Covers the basic principles for establishing and maintaining an effective institutional radiation safety program.
• PHYS 578 Medical Health Physics (Credit Hours: 2) This course will explore the medical Health Physics profession, including the sources of radiation in the medical environment.

Professional Electives

• SCI 511 Project Management (Credit Hours: 3) Successful project management links the basic metrics of schedule adherence, budget adherence, and project quality.
• COM 523 Communicating Science (Credit Hours: 3) This course focuses on strategies for communicating scientific information in professional settings.