Environmental Health is a fascinating, interdisciplinary field that explores the effects of human exposure to contaminants in the community, home, and workplace and uses this knowledge to improve public health.
The MS program is designed to equip graduates of the program with the skills and knowledge necessary for professional and research careers in environmental health. Environmental health specialists must understand sources of pollution; the physical and chemical processes that govern their fate and transport; the biological processes dictating their intake, uptake, metabolism, elimination, and toxicity; and approaches for sampling, analysis, measurement, and modeling of ambient concentrations, human exposures, and biologically relevant doses. Environmental scientists must also be familiar with the principles of biostatistics, epidemiology, and risk assessment in order to quantify risks and to characterize the state of knowledge and uncertainty underlying these estimates. Finally, they must understand the central concepts of decision analysis and administrative law in order to value health impacts, to assess the consequences of various strategies for reducing human exposures, and to design effective policies and regulations.
The program involves 42.5 credits (68 ECTS) of coursework in the biological sciences; in exposure assessment and environmental science; in the quantitative sciences; and in policy, law, and regulation. The MS experience culminates in a 20-credit (32 ECTS) practicum – in which each student integrates and applies knowledge from these courses to analyze a problem in environmental decision making or regulation. The practicum not only provides experience in quantitative analysis but also gives our graduates experience in writing scientific manuscripts and in preparing and presenting scientific talks.
