Father-daughter duo publish medical physics article

A Hill City father and daughter duo are helping introduce students across South Dakota—and now educators around the country—to the science behind medical imaging and radiation therapy.

Former Hill City High School science teacher Chad Ronish, who recently retired from the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), and his daughter Cara Jean Ronish, a senior at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, who also works for Monument Health Cancer Care Institute, have developed hands-on activities that allow students to explore complex medical physics concepts through basic principles they can see and experience firsthand.

Their goal is to spark an interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

“That’s what we did at SURF. We took very invisible physics, dark matter, neutrinos, and we turned them into hands-on activities so kids could see it, they could do it, they could figure it out on their own terms,” said Chad. “That’s how we’re going to find our next physicist. That’s how we’re going to find our next engineer. But these kids have to have a chance to be exposed to it.”

The duo created two activities that use homemade or inexpensive models called phantoms to demonstrate how medical physicists locate and treat cancer.

“The activity models nuclear medicine, so X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans, basic imaging is all nuclear medicine. Then we move into radiation therapy and how radiation is used to treat cancer patients,” said Cara. “Both activities are made to be very hands-on, so any age learner can get involved and be engaged with it.”

The first activity demonstrates the principles behind diagnostic nuclear medicine. Students are given a model that contains a hidden, sealed radioactive source representing a tumor. Using a handheld radiation detector, they move around the phantom taking measurements and comparing radiation levels. The students attempt to determine where the simulated tumor is located.

The second activity tackles radiation therapy using a gelatin model shaped like a human head that contains a simulated tumor and other structures representing healthy tissue. Wooden skewers are used to represent radiation beams. Students have to aim multiple beams at the target while considering geometry, precision and treatment planning-similar to the principles used when radiation therapists and medical physicists plan radiation treatments for cancer patients.

The lesson was originally developed for secondary students but has since been adapted for all age levels.

“Over the course of two- and-a-half years, we kind of developed this activity and made it accessible for middle schoolers, elementary kids, all the way up to young professionals pursing healthcare degrees, to make science hands-on and fun to learn about,” said Cara.

In 2025, both activities were presented at national meetings of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), allowing educators from across the country to access the materials and potentially incorporate them into their own programs. 

Woking in collaboration with co-author Jessica Fagerstrom, program director of Medical Physics Residency Program at the University of Washington, their work was recently published in the Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics in an article titled, “Using simple phantoms for teaching diagnostic and radiation therapy principles in hands-on medical physics outreach.” 

The article details materials needed, as well as how to create and perform the activities.

“That’s kind of the goal of the outreach at SURF. We work regionally with South Dakota and surrounding states, but our goal is to provide resources and ideas that can be used universally around the world,” said Chad. 

Chad hopes Cara will inspire other students, especially young women, to pursue careers in STEM. 

“She’s a great role model for women in science,” said Chad. “Being able to promote, especially young women, into pursuing STEM careers, pursuing medicine, pursuing science and knowing that they can do it.”

“We have to continue to invest in it because there’s a lot of reasons to not do the hard stuff, and you need to continue to push the effort for kids to take the hard classes and push themselves,” said Chad. “Go out and be everything you can be.”