Environmental Health Science (EHS)
Are you looking for a fulfilling career in environmental science? Do you want to play an active role in protecting people and the environment? Want to make a positive difference in the workplace and the community and to improve the quality of life?
If the possibility of making such and impact excites you, perhaps you should consider a career in Environmental Health Science.
Environmental Health Science (EHS) is the study of health hazards in our work and community environments. The field is continually evolving and current challenges include assessment of air quality in factories, offices and homes, as well as outdoor (ambient) air quality evaluations, mold contamination in buildings and assessment of hazardous waste sites.
EHS was formerly the Industrial Hygiene Program. The name was modified to reflect the expanding diversity of work industrial hygienists perform. Industrial hygienists work closely with engineers, occupational health physicians, nurses, safety specialists,and communities identify the chemical and physical agents responsible for disease in the work or community environment.
The Clarkson program is unique because it is interdepartmental, with participating course requirements from Chemistry, Engineering, Biology, and Business. Students can tailor their studies to emphasize special interests in these areas. Those who want to do research can work with faculty who are nationally recognized scientists in related fields.
The program is both theoretical and applied, scientific, and technological. Courses in chemistry, physiology, toxicology, physics, and engineering provide a theoretical background. Courses in communication skills, workplace assessment, and chemistry laboratories, coupled with one or more summer or semester internships, provide applied skills.
Why Clarkson for EHS?
Clarkson has one of the few undergraduate programs for Environmental Health Science/Industrial Hygiene in the country. And unlike programs elsewhere, ours is not an add-on to a health sciences or sanitation program. Our program is distinctive in the way it integrates biology, chemistry, engineering and business courses. It was designed that way in 1984, when it became one of the nation's first EHS programs. The mission of Clarkson University's Environmental Health Science Program is to promote the prevention of illness and injury due to the occupational and environmental hazards through education, training, and research.
The goal of the Environmental Health Science Program is to ensure that Clarkson University is achieving and maintaining high standards of education and providing the students with a solid foundation in science.
Objectives
- Recognize and evaluate types of environmental and occupational health hazards present in modern work environments.
- Study methods used to detect and quantify workplace airborne hazards, and the technologies used to control exposure to chemical hazards.
- Prepare students for a career in Occupational Hygiene with a coordinated multidisciplinary education using a curriculum based on a strong foundation in mathematics, physical sciences, biology, engineering and health sciences such as toxicology and epidemiology.
Real-World Experience
The EHS program partners with companies such as Alcoa and Kraft Foods to conduct health hazard assessments in actual work environments. Our undergraduates work hand-in-hand with managers and other personnel on the job to assess exposures to chemicals, noise and particulates. And they develop recommendations for the control of these hazards!
In such experiences, you will gain a full appreciation of real-world problem solving. This is a distinctive element of the Clarkson EHS program, and it comes from the confidence our industry partners have developed in our program.
Undergraduates also gain hands-on experience through cooperative programs and internships.