Mitch, Michael G.

Education

Dr. Mitch received his B.A. in Physics, cum laude, from Gettysburg College in 1988. At Gettysburg he was a Presidential Scholar, received the Miller Freshman Prize in Physics, the Miller Senior Award in Physics, and graduated with departmental honors. Dr.Mitch received a Ph.D. in solid state and condensed matter physics from The Pennsylvania State University in 1994.His thesis was entitled "Raman Scattering Studies of Variably Ordered Cluster Systems" and his advisor was the late Professor Jeffrey S. Lannin. His work at Penn State involved using interference enhanced Raman scattering to study the vibrational and electronic properties of ultrathin films of materials, including bismuth clusters and alkali metal doped fullerenes. This work resulted in twenty published papers, including two Physical Review Letters, and five conference presentations, including an invited talk at the 1995 March meeting of the American Physical Society. Mitch was also the recipient of a David Duncan Fellowship at Penn State.

Research and Teaching Experience

Dr. Mitch was a Summer Research Student in the Penn State Department of Physics in 1987, where he manufactured thin film optical multilayers for Raman scattering studies using RF sputtering and evaporation. He was a Teaching Assistant in the Penn State Department of Physics from 1988 to 1990, serving as an instructor of recitation and laboratory classes for undergraduate science and engineering majors.Dr. Mitch was a Research Assistant in the Penn State Department of Physics from 1989 to 1994, where he utilized interference enhanced Raman scattering and transmission electron microscopy to study finite size effects and coalescence and growth processes in bismuth clusters, as well as performed Raman scattering measurements on alkali-metal doped fullerene films, investigating electron-phonon coupling and disorder effects. Dr. Mitch was an Associate Research Scholar in the University of Maryland Department of Materials and Nuclear Engineering and NIST Ionizing Radiation Division from 1994 to 1998, where he and Dr. Lisa Karam developed techniques for encapsulation of radionuclides within fullerenes and photonuclear activation of the fullerene cage itself. Since 1998, Mitch has been a Physicist in the Radiation Interactions and Dosimetry Group, Ionizing Radiation Division of the NIST Physics Laboratory. He calibrates and characterizes low-energy and high-energy low-dose-rate photon-emitting brachytherapy sources. His research interests include studying the spectra emergent from brachytherapy sources, variations in anisotropy of source emissions, and the response of well-ionization chambers relative to the NIST WAFAC air-kerma strength standard.Since he started working at NIST, Mitch has delivered over thirty conference presentations and published over fifteen papers. He has served as a research advisor to fifteen students in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. Mitch also served as a faculty member of the 2009 American Association of Physicists in Medicine Summer School. In addition to his ongoing work involving the calibration and characterization of photon-emitting brachytherapy sources, he is currently participating in a new project to establish a primary air-kerma standard for miniature x-ray tube sources used in brachytherapy.

Memberships and Committee Participation

Dr. Mitch has been a member of the American Physical Society since 1989, and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) since 2000. He serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Medical Physics. Mitch is a member of the AAPM Brachytherapy Subcommittee, Task Group 138 on Uncertainties in Dosimetry, and is Chair of the Low Energy Brachytherapy Source Dosimetry Work Group. He has served as the NIST representative on assessment teams that ensure compliance of Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratories with AAPM requirements. Dr. Mitch is also a member of the CCRI(I) Brachytherapy Standards Working Group and the Council on Ionizing Radiation Measurements and Standards (CIRMS).

Awards

Dr. Mitch received the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service in 2004. He, along with three of his NIST Physics Laboratory colleagues, received a Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer in 2000. Mitch also received a NIST Measurement Services award in 1999.