Capstone and Clinical Training

Capstone

The capstone provides a unique opportunity for master's students to collaborate with faculty on clinical development projects. These projects typically span nine months to one year, allowing students to dedicate substantial time to developing tools, processes, or recommendations that support clinical practice. Students review a list of available projects and select one that aligns with their interests and career goals.

Projects may involve application development, artificial intelligence, clinical data collection and analysis, or a variety of other topics relevant to medical physics. Upon completion of the capstone, students prepare a formal written report and present their findings to a review committee.

Clinical Practicum

The clinical practicum is designed to provide master's students with hands-on exposure to the clinical environment through shadowing experiences and structured training modules. To reinforce clinical concepts, students also participate in lectures covering a range of medical physics topics.

Clinical experiences include, but are not limited to, machine quality assurance, patient-specific quality assurance, external beam radiation treatment planning, physics chart reviews, CT and MRI simulation, brachytherapy, and other specialized areas of practice. The practicum guides students through these workflows, introduces common challenges encountered by clinical medical physicists, and demonstrates the methods and best practices required to deliver safe and effective patient care.