Kai Vetter

Supervising Professor

Dr. Kai Vetter is a Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and Faculty Senior Scientist and Head of the Applied Nuclear Physics program at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is director of the Institute for Resilient Communities that was established in 2015 to address the need to better integrate advancements in sciences and technologies with communities through education and outreach locally and globally. Prof. Vetter initiated and still leads the Berkeley Radwatch and DoseNet programs.

Education:

  • 1995 PhD, Physics, J. W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt (Nuclear Physics)
  • 1990 M.S., Physics, J. W. Goethe-University, Frankfurt (Nuclear Physics)
  • 1987 B.S., Physics, Technical University, Darmstadt (Physics)

About:

Professor Vetter teaches the core NE104 course, “Radiation Detection and Nuclear Instrumentation Laboratory” which combines lectures and laboratory work to teach the basic concepts, implementations, and operations in radiation detection. In addition, he teaches NE107, “Introduction to Imaging”, an introduction to medical imaging physics and systems, including X-ray radiography and Computed Tomography (CT), radionuclide imaging (planar imaging as well as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET)), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Examples of advanced concepts that are being discussed are the recently developed phase-contrast X-ray imaging and hyper-polarization MRI In Fall 2011 Professor Vetter introduced the new graduate-level course NE204, “Advanced Concepts Concepts in Radiation Detection”. This course also combines lectures and experiments, however, it focuses on advanced concepts in radiation detection ranging from basic and advanced digital filters for signal processing in semiconductor and scintillator detectors to radiation imaging. Gamma-ray imaging concepts based on pinhole, parallel-hole, and coded aperture collimators, as well as Compton imaging, are being demonstrated employing 3D position sensitive segmented germanium detectors. Neutron imaging is explored based on the neutron scatter camera concept employing an array of liquid scintillators. Professor Vetter’s research interests range from fundamental physics to biomedical imaging and homeland security. He is authored and co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications. He is also a staff scientist at the Nuclear Science Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and heads the  Applied Nuclear Physics program there. This program entails almost all aspects of radiation detection including detector fabrication, readout, integration, and signal processing.