Former Herbert M. Parker Board Members

Dawn Alford is Director for the Nuclear Technology program at Columbia Basin College (CBC).  Alford earned her degree in Mass Communications from Southern University A&M. She is a member of the Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative and Women in Nuclear.  Alford has worked at CBC since 2001. As Assistant Director for College Relations she served as Editor-in-Chief of the national award-winning Outlook Magazine and hosted the monthly television program Campus to Community. While maintaining her Assistant Director position she took on the added role of Nuclear Technology Outreach and Retention Specialist in 2011 until her promotion to Director in 2014.  dalford@columbiabasin.edu

Dale H. Denham served the radiological protection community for nearly 40 years, beginning at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Livermore, CA, following completion of his MS in Radiological Science from the University of Washington in 1962.  Since then and until his retirement from Bechtel Hanford in 2004, he served as a professional Health Physicist at the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Radiation Management Corporation in Philadelphia, and again for Battelle in a consulting role providing dose calculations for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA).  He is board certified and an emeritus member of the Health Physics Society.  dthreads@frontier.com

1952 – 2015

Dr. William Morgan, an eminent scientist and the Director of Radiation Biology and Biophysics in the Biological Sciences Division of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, passed away November 13, 2015.  He was 62.

Dr. Morgan, or Bill to many of his friends, was a leading figure in the study of the biological effects of ionizing radiation and had a distinguished career that spanned over 35 years.  Born and raised in Christchurch, New Zealand, Bill received his bachelor degree in botany and his master and doctoral degree in cytogenetics from the University of Canterbury.  After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Bill joined the faculty there and later obtained a joint appointment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in 1995.  In 1999, he left California to become Director of the Radiation Oncology Research Laboratory at the University of Maryland Medical School in Baltimore.  In 2008, Bill moved to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and took on his leadership role until his untimely death.  He held joint appointments in the Department of Radiation Oncology at both Oregon Health Science University and the University of Washington.

Dr. Morgan’s research focused on elucidating the long-term biological effects of ionizing radiation and, more specifically, on the study of low dose effects on human health.  He was highly regarded by his peers and had received many awards and recognitions.  He served on many national and international advisory boards.  Dr. Morgan was conferred with an honorary D.Sc. degree from his Alma mater in 2003 and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2010.

1925 – 2015

Jerry Yesberger was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend to many.  He passed away peacefully on August 27, 2015.  Jerry was born and raised in Pueblo, Colorado.  He joined the Coast Guard in 1943 at the age of 17 after graduating from high school, serving in the South Pacific during WWII.  Following the service, he attended the University of Denver where he graduated with a degree in Public Health and Pharmacy.

In 1950, Jerry applied for a job with General Electric and moved to Richland. Jerry was involved with Public Health, Radiation Protection, Compliance and Safety but the majority of his work was performed as a health physicist for the Department of Energy where he was involved in the administration of the Hanford Contractor’s radiation protection programs.

He was a lifelong member of the Columbia Chapter of the Health Physics Society, serving as president in 1967, and the National Health Physics Society.  He was a trustee of the HM Parker Foundation, which provides scholarships, lectures, and preservation of historical artifacts at WSU Tri-Cities.  He was the second recipient of the HM Parker award.  In 1988, he received the Richland Operation’s Office Exceptional Service Award.

Dr. Akram Hossain is the Director of BSEL.  He will concurrently continue to serve as the interim vice chancellor for research, graduate studies and external programs at Washington State University (WSU) Tri-Cities until December 31, 2017, or until a replacement is found.

Ronald L. Kathren has had a long and distinguished career in the radiological and environmental sciences.  He holds degrees from UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh, is board certified in both health physics and environmental engineering and is a past president of both the Health Physics Society and the American Academy of Health Physics.  Following retirement as Professor and Director of the US Transuranium and Uranium Registries at WSU Tri-Cities, he has devoted major effort to education and preserving the history of the radiological sciences, serving as a Trustee of several organizations including the Smithsonian affiliated National Museum of Atomic Testing.  In 2002, he donated his historical collection of 3,400 items to start the Radiological and Allied Sciences Collection at WSU Tri-Cities.  kathren@bmi.net

Warnick Kernan earned his PhD in Experimental Nuclear Physics from the University of Rochester and a BA in Physics from Middlebury College. He is a Certified Health Physicist and a staff member at PNNL. He has more than 20 years of experience supporting the radiological emergency response community.  He has worked on developing instruments and techniques applicable to characterizing radiation for environmental, arms control, and emergency response applications.  He has led nuclear emergency response field teams, aerial gamma-ray survey missions, and has led the scientists, electrical engineers and technicians in the development of radiation detection instruments and techniques.  He has taught nuclear instrumentation and nuclear chemistry as an adjunct professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  warnick.kernan@charter.net

Paul Stansbury graduated from Georgia Tech with a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering in 1977, having received a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the same institution. Paul’s first job was teaching radiation protection at the graduate level in the radiological hygiene program area of the Dept. of Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  In the early ’80s, he got a job with GE in Wilmington NC, manufacturing nuclear fuel for commercial power reactors doing a large share of the radiation protection at the plant. In 1990, Paul moved to the Tri-Cities to be a section manager for Battelle, managing about 40 scientists and engineers doing applied research in radiation protection in the workplace, in the environment, and inside the human body. After the company reorganized, Paul became an individual contributor doing applied radiation protection projects around the country and around the world. In 2012, he retired from Battelle, and started working for Dade Moeller, Inc., a small radiation safety and environmental consulting company, while pursuing his passion in developing the graduate certificate program in radiation protection within WSU’s School of the Environment