Faculty
— Dr. Zaijing Sun
Dr. Sun is an associate professor in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences at UNLV. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics (in the area of Radiation Sciences and Accelerator Applications) from the Idaho Accelerator Center in 2012. Before joining UNLV, He was an assistant/associate professor of Nuclear Engineering at South Carolina State University. He had worked in the Nuclear Engineering Division of Argonne National Laboratory for three years under Dr. George Vandergrift and Dr. Sergey Chemerisov. He was also guided directly by Dr. Unnikrishnan (a pioneer in temporal data mining) at the NorthShore Research Institute.
His responsibilities at HERD include (but are not limited to)
(1) conduct scientific research that generates independent, high-quality, and reproducible results; interpret the research data (especially on database analysis and temporal data mining for early indicators), write reports to the funding agency, produce presentations and papers.
(2) lead the scientific direction and administer, compliance, finance, personnel, and other related aspects of the research project;
(3) manage the design/conduct of the research project; monitor the progress of the research and ensure the integrity of collaborative relationships with national labs;
(4) coordinate with school, department, and central administration personnel to ensure that research is conducted following Federal regulations, University policies, and DOE procedures.
— Dr. Biswajit Biswal
Dr. Biswajit Biswal is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at South Carolina State University. He holds Ph.D. in Computer and Information Systems Engineering from Tennessee State University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from NYU Tondon School of Engineering, and B.E. in Medical Electronics Engineering from India. His research interests are machine learning, data mining, cybersecurity, cloud computing, RF signal detection (Drones), IoT, and big data analysis. Dr. Biswal has published many technical papers at conferences and in journals. He has served as a technical reviewer in many conferences and journals. He is also a member of IEEE.
see: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biswajit-biswal-3091196/
Staff
— Mary Turner
Mary Turner is the laboratory manager in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences. She has more than eighteen years of experience in radiation detection and nuclear measurements.
Research Associate
— Dr. Krishnakumar Divakar Nangeelil
Dr. Krishnakumar is the Research Associate to Dr. Sun in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences at UNLV. He received his Master’s degree from Bharathidasan University, India. He did his Ph.D. in Physics at Bharathiar University, India, in the area of radiation dosimetry. His Ph.D. thesis focused on the development and applications of state-of-the-art Optically Stimulated and thermally stimulated luminescence materials in radiation dosimetry. Before joining UNLV, he was a Scientific Officer in the Health Physics Section, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, India. He has two decades of progressive professional work experience in Health Physics, Radiation Dosimetry, and associated fields of radiation measurement and analysis. He specializes in Operational Health physics, Detector instrumentation, Gamma spectrometry, and the development of Optically and Thermally stimulated Luminescence materials for radiation dosimetry. He has published many technical papers in conferences and peer-reviewed journals in the field of health physics and radiation dosimetry.
Student
— Thomas Knoblauch (Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Health Sciences)
Thomas Knoblauch is a doctoral student and part-time instructor in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences. He holds an M.S. in Health Physics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a B.S. in Physics from Northern Arizona University. Prior to pursuing his doctoral studies, Thomas worked for several years as a project scientist with a private neuroimaging research group, Imgen LLC, and later as a health physicist at the Nevada National Security Site. His primary research focus is neutron dosimetry for emergency response applications. He successfully passed his proposal defense in 2025 and is currently working on rapid PNAD-based neutron dose estimation for post-criticality emergency response.
— Rui Fang (Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Health Sciences)
Rui Fang is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences at UNLV. She is currently a teaching assistant for Dr. Sun’s Radiation Sciences course. She holds a master’s degree in clinical medicine and a bachelor’s degree in medical imaging from China. She plans to be a certified medical physicist in the future.
— Ryan Haeberlin (Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Health Sciences)
Ryan is a graduate student pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. While being a born and raised Las Vegan, he actually received his Bachelor’s degree at UNR, before returning to Las Vegas and UNLV for his Master’s in Emergency and Crisis Management. After obtaining his degree, he went on to work for the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST), and through his work there decided to pursue his PhD. When he has time on the weekends, he can usually be found in his garage, either working on a new woodworking project or keeping his pickup running.
— Yeasin Noor (MS, Environmental Health Physics)
Yeasin Noor is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Health Physics in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He completed both his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to joining UNLV, he worked as a university faculty member in Bangladesh for three years. He has published a research paper in the field of health physics. Yeasin is currently conducting graduate research under the supervision of Dr. Zaijing Sun. His research interests include radiation sciences and environmental health physics, with the long-term goal of becoming a health physicist.
Dyanne Macalinao (DMP, Medical Physics)
Dyanne is a graduate student pursuing a Doctor of Medical Physics degree at UNLV. Growing up in Las Vegas, she received her BS in Biochemistry at UNLV in December 2018. With growing interests in math and physics, she took post-baccalaureate courses in these subjects immediately after graduation. Dyanne is currently a graduate assistant in the Department of Health Physics and Diagnostic Sciences and has the primary goal of becoming a certified medical physicist in the future.
Blake Miller (DMP, Medical Physics)
Blake is a student in the Doctor of Medical Physics program at UNLV. He is from Sacramento, California and received his BA in Physics from UC Berkeley in December 2022. Blake works as a Graduate Assistant for the School of Integrated Health Sciences at UNLV and plans to become a certified therapeutic medical physicist in the future.
— Estefany Merino Rojas (BS, Health Physics)
Estefany Merino Rojas is a fourth-year student majoring in Health Physics. She plans to become a certified health physicist and begin a career at a national laboratory after graduation. She was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. In her free time, she enjoys watching new shows and creating new memories with friends and family. She serves as the finance director of Scientista, a student organization to empower women majoring in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) at UNLV.
— Tim Tran (BS, Health Physics)
Tim is a fourth-year student pursuing a degree in Health Physics. After graduation, he aims to become a health physicist and work in national laboratories. He plans to obtain a PhD in medical physics in the future. Additionally, he is a certified pharmacy technician and enjoys exploring how physics can contribute to the medical field.
Alumni
— Danesha Hunter (MS, Health Physics)
Danesha earned her B.S. in Chemistry from Fort Valley State University in 2016. After graduation, she taught for the Anchorage School District in her hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. She later moved to Las Vegas to pursue a Master of Science in Environmental Health Physics at UNLV, completing her coursework in 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she took a brief hiatus before returning to Las Vegas in 2023, where she worked with UNLV’s Radiation Safety Office as a Radiation Safety Specialist. She successfully defended her M.S. degree in water studies with INAA in 2025 and now works as a Radiological Control Scientist at the Nevada National Security Site.
— Kennedy O. Alila (MS, Nuclear Engineering)
Mr. Alila was a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering-Nuclear Engineering at UNLV. He graduated from Saint Louis University with a Master of Science in Chemistry in 2011. He has, since his graduation, been a college instructor of chemistry. He is working with Dr. Sun from the Health Physics department on the Irradiation of Samples for Isotope Ratios Analysis. Currently, he works for the Radiation Safety Office at UNLV.
— Haven Searcy (MS, Health Physics)
Haven Searcy received his BS in Chemistry from Fort Valley State University. He was an intern for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He worked with Dr. Sun in Environmental Health Physics on radiological monitoring surrounding the Nevada Test Site. The primary analytical technique used is Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA). In addition, he was working on establishing a Remote Gamma Spectra Collection System (RGSCS) coupled with a CosmicGuard background reduction system. He successfully passed the MS defense at UNLV in September 2024 and is currently a health physicist at the Nevada National Security Site.
— Peter Dimpfl (MS, Medical Physics)
Peter Dimpfl was a graduate student and research assistant. He graduated from Iowa State University with a BS in Physics and a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2010. After graduating, he worked as an operations engineer in the Oil & Gas Industry, performing well-logging applications for over nine years. His duties included radiation safety, supervisory work, logistics, data acquisition, quality control, and instrument calibration. He successfully passed the MS defense at UNLV in 2022 and is currently under residency as a medical physicist at Texas Oncology – Deke Slayton Cancer Center in Houston, TX.
— Christiana Jiang (MS, Health Physics)
Christina was a Graduate Assistant to Dr. Sun, assisting with research on environmental biomonitoring via Spanish Moss. 
She was a full-time employee at the Radiation Safety Office at UNLV. She was an intern for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Radiological Field Operations in the Office of Air and Radiation. She was born and raised in Las Vegas, where she attended UNLV receiving her Bachelor of Science in Health Physics in May of 2020 and Master degree in Environmental Health Physics in 2023. She is currently working as a Health Physicist at the Remote Sensing Laboratory(RSL) at Nevada National Security Site.
