Joel Lubenau CE’60 graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1956 and went to work as a structural steel draftsman. After receiving a civil engineering degree from The Cooper Union, he was commissioned a Reserve Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and assigned to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Radiological Health.  As a result of that experience, he switched from engineering to health physics.

He received a M.S. in Radiological Health from Rutgers University and was elected to Sigma Xi. His health physics experience includes senior staff and management positions in the USPHS, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Radiation Protection, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC).  After serving as technical assistant to USNRC Commissioner Gail de Planque and USNRC Chairman Greta Dicus he retired from government service in 1999.  From 2000 to 2008, he was a national security consultant focusing on safety and security of radioactive sources and emergency response planning. 

Now a full-time writer, his interests include the history of the use of radiation and radioactive materials in medicine and industry and their impact upon popular culture.  His history articles have appeared in Pennsylvania Heritage; Western Pennsylvania History; Jefferson College Times; Train Collectors Quarterly; International Atomic Energy Agency Bulletin; International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics; Nowotwory (Polish Journal of Oncology); and The Invisible Light (British Society for the History of Radiology).