Ronald Collé (born February 11, 1946) is a specialist in nuclear and

radiochemistry Radiochemistry is the chemistry of radioactive materials, where radioactive isotopes of elements are used to study the properties and chemical reactions of non-radioactive isotopes (often within radiochemistry the absence of radioactivity leads t ...

, radionuclidic metrology, and the development of standards. He has worked at the

National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...

( NIST) from 1976 to 2003 and from 2005 to present, and currently serves as a research chemist in the Radioactivity Group of the NIST Physics Laboratory (Ionizing Radiation Division). Previously, he held research positions at

Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, Long Island, and was formally established in 1947 at the site of Camp Upton, a former U.S. Army base and Japanese internment c ...

, and at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. He received a B.Sc. in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1969, a Ph.D. in chemistry (nuclear and radiochemistry) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1972, and an M.S. Adm. (Administration of Science and Technology) from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

in 1979. Collé and his collaborators have maintained, expanded and improved radioactivity measurement standards for

radium Radium is a chemical element with the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, but it readily reacts with nitrogen (rathe ...

-226 and

radon Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...

-222 to address the requirements to measure these nuclides in

drinking water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, a ...

. Collé and collaborators developed methods to analyse and standardize

brachytherapy Brachytherapy is a form of radiation therapy where a sealed radiation source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment. ''Brachy'' is Greek for short. Brachytherapy is commonly used as an effective treatment for cervical, prost ...

sources, pellets of radioactive material designed to be implanted in the body at site requiring direct radiation exposure. An important part of metrology and standards development is understanding and taking into account uncertainties that are inherent in the instruments or that arise from methodology. Collé co-authored a paper with Churchill Eisenhart and Harry Ku, which was the forerunner of the 1993

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

''Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement''. Collé has published over ninety research papers, and from 1999 through 2004 was an associate editor of the ''

Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology The ''Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology'' is the flagship peer-reviewed scientific journal of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It has been published since 1904. Its former name was ''Jour ...

''.

References

External links

NIST profile
21st-century American physicists American nuclear physicists Living people Georgia Tech alumni George Washington University alumni Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni 1946 births