Medical Physics
Medical Physics research areas include applications of multi-modality oncology imaging in radiation treatment, physical and biophysical modeling, radiation treatment optimization, small-field dose calculations, Monte Carlo modelling of gamma radiosurgery, scatter analysis of cone-beam CT for image-guided radiation treatment, biological effects of low-dose CT imaging, and biophysical aspects of radiation countermeasures.
Flexibility is allowed for experimental and theoretical dissertation topics based on student interests and designated research funding, decided in discussion with the student’s advisor and dissertation committee.
Affiliate physics faculty members, Daniel Bourland and Michael T. Munley from Radiation Oncology carry out research in the physics of medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. They mentor both Physics PhD students and Medical Physics PhD students.
Engineering
Affiliate physics faculty members, Lauren Lowman and Erin Henslee from the department of Engineering carry out research in environmental engineering and cellular electrophysiology, respectively and can mentor Physics PhD students.
SCHOLARSHIP
Faculty working in Engineering
Erin Henslee
Associate Professor of Engineering
Medical Physics or Engineering
Red blood cell electrophysiology, cell separation and patterning, and understanding electrophysiological parameters
455 Vine Street, Bldg 60 South, Room 4511
Lauren E. L. Lowman
Associate Professor of Engineering
Engineering
Land-atmosphere interactions, hydrometeorology, ecohydrology, remote sensing, fluid dynamics, numerical, and statistical modeling
Wake Downtown 4509
Erin Henslee
Erin Henslee’s research group, as an affiliate faculty member in physics, investigates cellular electrical properties and how they relate to other biophysical cellular phenomena. The goal of our research is to understand the interplay between cellular electrophysiology and cellular function and to use electrophysiology as a tool in disease diagnosis, progression monitoring, and treatment targeting.
Our group is currently focused on investigating:
- Red blood cell (RBC) electrophysiology as a marker of RBC pathology;
- The interconnection between various electrophysiologic parameters including membrane potential, zeta-potential, and membrane conductance/capacitance; and,
- Cell separation and patterning based on electrophysiologic response.
Accepting graduate students
Accepting undergraduate students
Lauren Lowman
Lauren Lowman’s research group, as an affiliate faculty member in physics, investigates how climate and weather disturbances affect overall ecosystem health, productivity, and sustainability using numerical models, geospatial data analysis, and field experiments. Our group’s interdisciplinary research into ecosystem health and productivity intersects the fields of engineering, physics, hydrology, biology, and ecology, among others, and has impacts that are societally relevant.
Our group is currently focused on investigating:
- How wildfire dynamics affect vegetation regrowth and carbon cycling;
- Ecosystem vulnerability to short-term and long-term drought events; and,
- How climate change alters the self-sustainability of temperate and tropical forests.
Accepting graduate students
Accepting undergraduate students