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Name: Michael Box
Position: Public Health Service officer
Organization: US Coast Guard
Year graduated from UW DEH: 1998 (undergraduate), 2000 (graduate)
Degree: BS, MS
DEH Program: undergraduate, MS Industrial Hygiene and Safety

Michael Box finished his undergraduate degree and enrolled in the department's master's program in Industrial Hygiene and Safety. He did his graduate thesis on air pollution, specifically the exposure to particulate air pollution by older adults with heart and lung diseases.

After graduation, he became an officer (Lieutenant JG) in the US Public Health Service, and is detached to the Coast Guard in Alameda, California. He is part of a team that provides environmental health, industrial hygiene, safety, and ergonomics services for Coast Guard personnel and units.

One recent project was to find better ways for lifeboat and helicopter crews to communicate with each other during noisy operations. The evaluation led to a recommendation for improved communications gear and hearing protection.

On another project, he evaluated asbestos exposures during brake removal, cleaning, and inspection, which led to an improvement in standard operating procedures for that operation.

His team's other tasks include:

• Housing risk assessment (lead, radon, and asbestos)
  
• Communicable diseases and epidemiological investigations
  
• Drinking water and wastewater
  
• Food sanitation and food-borne illness investigations
  
• Disaster response support (food, water, and disease prevention)
  
• Occupational medical monitoring
  
• Indoor air quality
  
• Exposure monitoring during welding, sandblasting, painting, fueling, and firing range activities
  
• Sound level surveys in shops, at sea, and in the air
  
• Safety training.
  

Lt. Box suggests that current students "find a career that you are passionate about" He added, " It may sound like a canned recruiting speech, but every single environmental health officer that I have met in the Public Health Service can say that they have found that career."

He invites students who are interested in a career or an internship with the Public Health Service, to e-mail him or look at the US Public Health Service's web site.

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