Novel approaches to meeting the needs of the radiochemistry workforce: a case study of the University of Iowa radiochemistry graduate certificate program.

The workforce and training needs for the field of radiochemistry are well documented and continue to be an area of concern for the energy, medicine, environmental monitoring, national security, and forensics sectors. Early efforts to meet these workforce needs have focused on traditional graduate programs (both M.S. and Ph.D.) for training the next generation of radiochemists. However, the changing face of higher education combined with the rigid structure of traditional university programs can lead to development and sustainability challenges for radiochemistry education programs. Some of these issues include a lack of faculty with technical expertise to teach courses, balancing the needs of the department teaching loads, insufficient numbers of students to meet enrollment requirements, and special infrastructure, instrumentation, and safety needed to offer training in radiochemistry. Herein we outline alternative approaches that include virtual/online platforms to enhance current efforts in radiochemistry workforce training, and we highlight our experience developing the University of Iowa's Radiochemistry Graduate Certificate Program as an example of a new pathway for advancing workforce development that combines both virtual and hands-on instruction. From its launch in Fall 2024 through Summer 2025, the program enrolled 12 participants from different public health laboratories across the United States, with a 100% completion rate. The experience of launching this program has highlighted additional potential growth opportunities to support and develop a comprehensive approach to meeting the national needs for radiochemistry expertise and these are described as well. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10967-025-10400-y.