Biography
Amy Renné is a 2nd year medical physics PhD student at the University of Chicago focusing her thesis work on Auger therapy and isotope production. Completing her bachelor’s degree at Stevens Institute of Technology in physics with a minor in mathematics, she transitioned to medical physics her senior year after working at Argonne National Laboratory as a virtual Lee Teng Fellowship intern. After the conclusion of this work, she was hired as a full-time research aide working primarily in Monte Carlo simulation problems for isotope production. Currently, her research interests are in the production, detection, dosimetry, and biological effects of Auger-emitting Terbium isotopes. Enjoying both experimental and programming challenges, she is using GammaSphere measurements to demonstrate that the partial cross sections and the energy dependence of the three dominant residues of Terbium-155 can be fully extracted and reconstructed from i) measurement of the prompt gamma cascades and ii) beam-off measurement of the ground states or long-lived isomers of the radioactive residues. It is her hope that this work will fundamentally improve the lack of accuracy in current nuclear reaction optical models which is vital to the progression of isotope research and nuclear medicine as a whole.
Education
- University of Chicago, Doctoral Candidate - Medical Physics (2021-present)
- Stevens Institute of Technology, Bachelor’s of Science Highest Honors - Physics (2017-2020)
Honors and Awards
- Argonne Physics Division Employee of the Month (September 2021)
- Argonne Lee Teng Fellowship (May 2019)
- Stevens Institute of Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Fellowship (May 2018)
- KU Leuven and CERN Visiting Scholar (May 2017)