Development of an interdisciplinary curriculum in radiochemistry at the university of Iowa

An interdisciplinary curriculum in radiochemistry is under development at the University of Iowa. The program represents a collaboration between the Departments of Radiology and Chemistry with strong support from the College of Medicine and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The University has undertaken this venture in response to a national and international need for professionals with skills and knowledge of nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry. Students enrolling in this program will benefit from a diverse spectrum of extramurally-funded projects for which radiochemistry is a cornerstone of research and development. Recently, a symposium was conducted at the University of Iowa to determine the undergraduate educational foundation that will produce desirable personnel for the diverse sectors related to radiochemistry. Professionals and researchers from around the United States were invited to contribute their perspectives on aspects of radiochemistry that would be important to include in the undergraduate program. Here, we present a brief communication of the draft curriculum, which is based on our understanding of the current need for radio-chemists and nuclear chemists across disciplines and is informed by our communications with participants in the radiochemistry symposium. Recurring themes, which were stressed by participants, included the need for the development of specialized hands-on open-source laboratory training, internship opportunities, and the inclusion of inexpensive-simple radiochemistry laboratory modules that could be included in early analytical laboratory instruction to attract students to the study of radiochemistry and nuclear chemistry. (authors)