Palms ' career has been in academia , national security , business and volunteerism . He graduated from The Citadel in 1958 as a distinguished Air Force ROTC cadet and received a regular commission in the United States Air Force . He was first posted to Emory University where he received a Master 's Degree in Physics . Then , as a Nuclear Weapon Officer , he was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base , New Mexico working at Los Alamos National Laboratory , Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Labs ; he was also a Professor of Physics at the United States Air Force Academy . After his military service he received a PhD in Physics from the University of New Mexico then joined the faculty at Emory University where he served for twenty-three years moving from an assistant professor to the University 's Chief Academic Officer ; he also held the Charles Howard Chandler Chaired Professorship of Radiation and Environmental Physics . He was a member of the National Nuclear Accreditation Board and the Advisory Council for the National Academy of Nuclear Training of the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations . He also was a co-head of the team who designed the public assisted Ecological Based Environmental Radiation Monitoring Programs after the Three Mile Island accident . In 200l , the North American Technical Center Board chose him The Radiation Protection Professional of the Year . After moving from Emory to Georgia State University as President for two years , he moved to be President of the University of South Carolina in Columbia . After serving in that capacity for almost twelve years , he assumed his role as Distinguished Professor for five more years retiring in 2007 . He has published over sixty scientific and technical papers and reports
Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
John Palms