Research Interests

• Computer modeling and simulation. Computational physics.
• Monte Carlo simulation techniques for radiation transport and application to detector modeling, dosimetry and medical imaging.
• Image reconstruction techniques.
• Image quality evaluation.

Education

• Ph.D. nuclear physics, 1999, Institute of Atomic Physics, Bucharest.
• Physicist-engineer diploma (M.Sc. equivalent), 1993, University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics.

Research experience

• Research Associate (2007 - ) University of Pennsylvania, Department of Radiology, Medical Image Processing Group.
• Postdoctoral Researcher (2002 - 2006) University of Pennsylvania, Department of Radiology, Medical Image Processing Group.
• NATO Postdoctoral Fellow (11/1999 - 8/2000) Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers Paris, France.
• Research Scientist (1998 - 2001), Research Assistant (1993 - 1998) National Institute of R & D for Environment, Bucharest, Romania.

Selected publications

• "Model for the detection of signals in images with multiple suspicious locations," L.M. Popescu, Medical Physics, vol. 35, no. 12, 2008, pp. 5565-5574 (preprint, journal version).
• "Nonparametric ROC and LROC analysis," L.M. Popescu, Medical Physics, vol. 35, pp. 1556-1564, 2007 (preprint, journal version).
• "Comparison Between TOF and non-TOF PET using a scan statistic numerical observer", L.M. Popescu and R.M. Lewitt, IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Img. Conf., 2006 San Diego, (oral talk slides, conference record paper).
• "Small nodule detectability evaluation using a generalized scan statistic model," L.M. Popescu and R.M. Lewitt, Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 31, pp. 6225-6244, 2006 (preprint, journal version).
• "PET energy-based scatter estimation and image reconstruction with energy-dependent corrections," L.M. Popescu, R.M. Lewitt, S. Matej, J.S. Karp, Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 51, pp. 2919-2937, 2006 (preprint, journal version).
• "Energy-based scatter correction and energy dependent image reconstruction for PET scanners," L.M. Popescu, R.M. Lewitt, S. Matej and J.S. Karp, IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Img. Conf., 2005 Puerto Rico, (oral talk, conference record paper).
• "Investigation of time-of-flight benefit for fully 3D PET", S. Surti, J.S. Karp, L.M. Popescu, M. Daube-Witherspoon and M. Werner, IEEE Trans. Med. Img., vol. 52, no. 11, pp. 2919-2937, 2006 (journal version).
• ``Iterative image reconstruction using geometrically ordered subsets with list-mode data,'' L.M. Popescu, S. Matej and R.M. Lewitt, IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Img. Conf., 2004 Rome, vol. 6, pp. 3536-3540, (conference record paper)
• "Ray tracing through a grid of blobs," L.M. Popescu and R.M. Lewitt, IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Img. Conf., 2004 Rome, vol. 6, pp. 3983-3986, (conference record paper)
• "A versatile approach for Monte Carlo simulation of tomographic systems," L.M. Popescu and R.M. Lewitt, IEEE Nucl. Sci. Symp. & Med. Img. Conf., 2003 Portland, vol. 4, pp. 2785-2788, (conference record paper)
• "A geometry modeling system for ray tracing or Monte Carlo particle transport simulation," L.M. Popescu, Computer Physics Communications, vol. 150/1, pp. 21-30, 2003 (preprint; journal version ).
• "An extension of the Alias Sampling technique for parameterized probability density functions," L. M. Popescu, Journal of Computational Physics, vol. 160, pp. 612-622, 2000 (preprint; journal version).
• "A computer code package for Monte Carlo photon-electron transport simulation. Comparisons with experimental benchmarks," L.M. Popescu, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. in Phys. Res. B, vol. 161-163, pp. 318-322, 2000 (preprint; journal version ).