I saw a job recently for a University RSO position. My background is all power plant HP . Are there any particular items I need to know about related to university setting? Are there any regulatory issues to qualify as RSO? The school has a nuclear science center with a variety of sources, engineering school, pharmacy school and Vet school. Also based on the ad there is considerable work with laser safety.
with your chp, i'd say yinz got the quals to get in the door and sit behind the desk. there's a lot of differing methodologies there to make ionizing radiation, but a rem is a rem is a rem and a dpm is a dpm is a dpm. mickey mikes per mil don't change either. isotopes do. good luck.
While I can't speak for your particular university, the years I spent at FermiLab were among the most fascinating, albeit not the best paying, years of my life. The nuts and bolts of what we do doesn't change, but the sources can be amazing.
On the down side, getting a bunch of students and, worse yet, professors, to listen to you is like pulling teeth. All in all, it's a job worth investigating. I don't regret my time at the lab.
Mike
Yes, with the CHP the only thing you could be unfamiliar with is lasers and x-rays, but they can send you to classes for that training--same for DOT haz shipping certification. They also have RSO classes, but you should not need that.
See 10CFR35 for RSO quals (it's for medical but it mostly applies and you did not specify if it was mainly a MEDICAL or an occupational health physics job) and maybe review 30 and 33 for broadscope license info.
Most of your university isotopes are pure betas if doing lab research (p32, s35, h3, and c14 are the most common), with some metastable gammas (tc99, ba137, co60, etc.) thrown in if they deal with medical research patients.
You should be able to demand a 100k+ salary if the position is at a sizeable univ. If the job is occupational health physics, it will be under the auspices of the EHS department, so try to find out what the other EHS division heads make, or what the EHS director makes. If it is a state univ, most salaries fall in a specified range and are either posted or you can contact HR. If it is a priv univ, it's all about how much they want you.
Thanks for the help. I think I will pursue this at least a bit.