Nicole Martinez PhD

Nicole E. Martinez joined Clemson University as an Assistant Professor in August 2014 as part of a unique departmental program designed to address broad environmental issues associated with anthropogenic and natural radioactivity. Dr. Martinez received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Radiological Health Sciences from Colorado State University, specializing in health physics and radioecology, respectively. Prior to attending graduate school, she served in the United States Navy as a nuclear power instructor and radiation health officer. The main achievements of her doctoral work were the evaluation of lake trophic structure effect on iodine accumulation in fish, the development and application of various computational phantoms for internal dosimetry of rainbow trout, and the assessment of reflectance spectroscopy as a potential tool for use in phytoremediation. Martinez’s current research focuses on the behavior and effects of radiological contaminants in the environment, including radiation transport modeling, improved dosimetric methods, chronic low-dose effects to and multi-contaminant response in non-human biota, and mechanisms of competitive uptake in plants. This work contributes to the major research areas in radioecology lacking in data and supports the increasing public interest in nuclear energy, decommissioning, waste management, and environmental stewardship.