Michael Kowalok

  • Program Years: 2000-2004
  • Academic Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • Field of Study: Medical Physics
  • Academic Advisor: Douglass Henderson
  • Practicum(s):
    Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2002)
  • Degree(s):
    Ph.D. Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2004
    M.S. Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1999
    M.A. Science, Technology, and Public Policy, George Washington University, 1996
    B.A. Physics, Franklin and Marshall College, 1988

Current Status

  • Status: Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, West Virginia University School of Medicine
  • Research Area: Monte Carlo Methods for Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning

Publications

S. Yoo, M.E. Kowalok, B. Thomadsen, and D.L. Henderson."A greedy heuristic using adjoint functions for the optimization of seed and needle configurations in prostate seed implants," Physics in Medicine and Biology, 52:815-828, January, 2007.

R. Jeraj, M.E. Kowalok, and B. Titz,"Computational Benchmarks for Medical Physics," Proc. of the Computational Medical Physics Working Group Workshop 1: CMPWG1, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL/TM-2006/7, August, 2006.

M.E. Kowalok, D. Henderson, "A Method for Computing Energy Spectra for Multiple Orders of Compton-scattered Photons," Proc. of the 47th Annual Meeting of the Am. Assoc. of Phys. in Med., July 24-28, 2005, Seattle, WA.

M.E. Kowalok, R. Jeraj, T.D. Bohm, T.R. Mackie, D. Henderson, "Radiotherapy Treatment Planning by Adjoint and Forward Transport and Analysis" in The Monte Carlo Method: Versatility Unbounded in a Dynamic Computing World, April 17-21, 2005, Chattanooga, TN.

M.E. Kowalok, R. Jeraj, T.D. Bohm, T.R. Mackie, D. Henderson,"Iterative Adjoint and Forward Monte Carlo Transport for External Beam Treatment Planning," Proc. of the 46th Annual Meeting of the Am. Assoc. of Phys. in Med., July 25-29, 2004, Pittsburgh, PA.

M. Kissick, T.R. Mackie, G. Olivera, and M. Kowalok,"Monte Carlo simulations of continuous tomotherapy delivery", Proc. of the 14th International Conference on the Use of Computers in Radiation Therapy (ICCR). May 10-13, 2004, Seoul, Korea.

S. Yoo, M.E. Kowalok, D.L. Henderson, and B. Thomadsen, "Treatment planning for prostate brachytherapy using region of interest adjoint functions and a greedy heuristic," Physics in Medicine and Biology, 48:4077-490, December, 2003.

M.E. Kowalok, R. Jeraj, T.D. Bohm, T.R. Mackie, D. Henderson,"Performance of Lattice- and Mesh-Based Tallies in MCNP and MCNPX Monte Carlo Codes," Proc. of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Am. Assoc. of Phys. in Med., August 10-14, 2003, San Diego, CA.

M.E. Kowalok, S. Yoo, D.L. Henderson, and T.R. Mackie, "Region of Interest Adjoint Functions as an Initial Guess for Iterative Inverse Treatment Planning," Proc. of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Am. Assoc. of Phys. in Med, July 14-18, 2002, Montreal, Quebec.

S. Yoo, M.E. Kowalok, D.L. Henderson, and T.R. Mackie, "A Greedy Algorithm for the Optimization of Prostate Implants Using the Adjoint Distribution," Proc. of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Am. Assoc. of Phys. in Med., July 14-18, 2002, Montreal, Quebec.

M.E. Kowalok, D.L. Henderson, and T.R. Mackie, "An Adjoint Monte Carlo Method for External Beam Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning," Proc. of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Am. Assoc. of Phys. in Med., July 22-26, 2001, Salt Lake City, Utah.

M.E. Kowalok, D.L. Henderson, and T.R. Mackie, "Adjoint Monte Carlo Methods for Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning," Trans. of the Am. Nuc. Soc., 2001 Annual Meeting, June 17-21, 2001, Milwaukee, WI.

M.E. Kowalok, D.L. Henderson, and T.R. Mackie, "An Investigation of the Adjoint Method for External Beam Radiation Therapy Treatment Planning using Monte Carlo Transport," Proc. of the Ninth Intl. Conf. on Nuc. Engr. (ICONE-9), April 8-12, 2001, Nice, France.

M.E. Kowalok, "Common Threads: Research Lessons From Acid Rain, Ozone Depletion, and Global Warming," Environment, Volume 35, Number 6, July/August, 1993.