Thursday, September 17, 2015
Guest Speaker: Dr. Robert Cherry Jr., CHP – HPS President-Elect
Dr. Cherry is Radiation Safety Staff Officer for the US Army Installation Management Command since 2009. Born in Kentucky and raised in Detroit, when drafted out of graduate school, he instead enlisted for Field Artillery OCS in January 1969. He served in a nuclear-capable unit in the Netherlands as a second lieutenant. As a first lieutenant, he served in combat in Vietnam as an artillery forward observer attached to an infantry company in the 23d Infantry Division (Americal). He returned to the University of Michigan in 1971 and received a doctorate in physics in 1975. For the next two years, he was an assistant professor of physics at Hamilton College and a visiting research associate at the University of Rochester Nuclear Structure Research Laboratory. He returned to active duty as a military health physicist in the Medical Service Corps in 1977. His military assignments then included assistant radiation safety officer for the radiological cleanup of Eniwetok Atoll, associate professor of physics at the United States Military Academy, and, lastly, Army Radiation Safety Officer at HQDA until he retired in 2001. He worked mostly as a senior health physicist with contractors between 2001 and 2009. His military awards include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Air Medal. He is member of the Field Artillery OCS Hall of Fame and a Fellow of the Health Physics Society.
