Home > Courses & Faculty > Interest Areas and Courses
The four Environmental Health interest areas are listed below - complete with a list of courses that count toward that specific interest area. Each bullet point contains a course's four letter prefix and number as well as its title, total credits, and quarter offered (when known). If you would like to learn more about prerequisites and read a class description, please visit the UW Course Descriptions page. Students must take at least 30 credits in their Environmental Health Interest area.
Biological
Sciences
Students who choose the Biological Sciences interest area will learn
to identify major classes of environmental and workplace toxicants, study
how they interact with biological systems to cause adverse effects
on human health, and assess risk-related exposures. In addition to toxicology,
students
may want to focus on microbiology, genetics and the nutritional
sciences. Students can take advantage of opportunities to conduct research
in laboratories of faculty in the department.
This
interest area's adviser is Dan Luchtel (dluchtel@u.washington.edu).
Biology/Biochemistry
- BIOL 401 Advanced Cell Biology (3)
- BIOL 405 Cellular & Molecular Biology of Human Disease (3)
- BIOC 405 Introduction to Biochemistry (3) [Offered: Autumn.]
- BIOC 406 Introduction to Biochemistry (3) [Offered: Winter.]
- BIOC 440 Biochemistry (4) [Offered: Autumn.]
- BIOC 441 Biochemistry (4) [Offered: Winter.]
- BIOC 442 Biochemistry (4) [Offered: Spring.]
Genetics
- GENOME 351 Human Genetics: The Individual & Society (4) [Offered: Winter.]
- GENOME 371 Introductory Genetics (4) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- GENOME 372 Gene Structure & Function (5) [Offered: Winter.]
- GENOME 411 Gene Action (5) [Offered: Winter.]
Microbiology
- MICROM 410 Fundamentals of General Microbiology (3) [Offered: Autumn.]
- MICROM 411 Gene Action (5) [Offered: Jointly with GENOME 411; Winter.]
- MICROM 412 Fundamentals of General Microbiology III (3) [Offered: Spring.]
- MICROM 435 Microbial Ecology (3) [Offered: Spring of even years.]
- MICROM 441 Introduction to Immunology (4) [Offered: jointly with IMMUN 441.]
- MICROM 442 Medical Bacteriology (3) [Offered: Winter.]
- MICROM 444 Medical Mycology & Parasitology (4) [Offered: Spring.]
- MICROM
445 Medical Virology (2) [Offered: Spring.]
Nutritional Science
- NUTR 300 Nutrition for Today (3) [Offered: Autumn.]
- NUTR 441 Chemistry of Foods (3) [Offered: Summer of odd years.]
- NUTR 445 Food Policy & Food Safety (2) [Offered: Winter.]
Physical
Sciences
The Physical Science interest area is intended for students who want
to learn about chemical and physical hazards in both the
workplace and ambient environment
that impact human health. This would include chemical contamination
in the air, water, and soil and physical hazards such as ionizing radiation,
non-ionizing radiation, noise, repetitive motion and thermal stresses.
Students completing this emphasis work for state and federal regulatory
agencies, environmental and occupational hygiene consulting firms, large
and small private businesses, and sometimes continue with graduate school
in closely-related areas of study.
This interest
area's adviser is Richard Fenske (rfenske@u.washington.edu).
Chemistry and Environment
- CHEM 321 Quantitative Analysis (5) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, and Summer.]
- CHEM 452 Physical Chemistry for Biochemists I (3) [Offered: Autumn and Winter.]
- CHEM 453 Physical Chemistry for Biochemists II (3) [Offered: Winter and Spring.]
- CHEM E 341 (Chemical Engineering) Energy and Environment (3) [Offered: Jointly with ENVIR 341/M E 341; Autumn; Chemical Engineering is a dept. with the UW College of Engineering.]
Equipment Evaluation
- CEE 350 (Civil and Environmental Engineering) Water and Air Quality (4) [Offered: Spring.]
- CEE 485 Environmental Engineering Chemistry (3)
- CEE 486 Environmental Analysis Chemistry (3)
- CEE 493 Air Pollution Source Testing and Equipment Evaluation (3)
- CEE 494 Air Pollution Control Equipment Design (3) [Offered: Jointly with CHEM E/M E 415.]
- CEE 495
Sustainability and Design for Environment (3)
[Offered:
Jointly with ENVIR 415/ M E 415; Spring.]
Environment
- ESS 201 (Earth and Space Sciences) The Earth System and Climate (5) [Offered: Winter.]
- ESS 345 The Environment of Fuel and Mineral Deposits (3) [Offered: Winter.]
Other Science and Mathematics
- MATH 125 Calculus with Analytic Geometry II (5) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- MATH 126 Calculus with Analytic Geometry III (5) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- PHYS 122 (Physics) Electromagnetism and Oscillatory Motion (0/5, max. 5) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- PHYS 207 The Physics of Music (3)
Medical Professions
The medical professions interest area provides an early start for premed
students interested in careers in public health and occupational and
environmental medicine or who merely want to become familiar with this
fascinating collection of scientific health disciplines, which are only
lightly touched upon in medical school. This program offers the unique
opportunity to become familiar with the spectrum of methods for the characterization
of environmental and occupational human health hazards that confront
our communities, our country and the world. Skills learned will include
a familiarity with the interface between human health and the environment
including both the natural and the humanly modified environment and the
workplace. Students choosing this interest area will have the opportunity
to work closely with internationally-known researchers and physicians
in the field of occupational and environmental health.
This interest
area's advisers are Bill Daniell (bdaniell@u.washington.edu) and Matt
Keifer (mkeifer@u.washington.edu).
Anthropology
- ANTH 305 Anthropology of the Body (5)
- ANTH 322 Comparative Study of Death (5) [Offered: Jointly with NURS 495.]
- ANTH 375 Comparative Systems of Healing (3)
- ANTH 440 Child Rearing, Culture, and Health (3) [Offered: Jointly with NURS 495.]
- ANTH 476 Culture, Medicine, and the Body (5)
- ANTH
477 Medicine in America: Conflicts and Contradictions (3)
- BIO A 372 Uses and Abuses of Evolutionary Views of Human Behavior (5)
- BIO
A 465 Nutritional Anthropology (3) [Offered: Jointly with NUTR 495.]
Classics
- CLAS
205 Bioscientific Vocabulary Building from Latin and Greek (3) [Offered:
Autumn, winter, Spring, and Summer.]
English
- ENGL
364 Literature and Medicine (5)
- GEOG 280 Introduction to the Geography of Health and Health Care (5) [Offered: Spring.]
- GEOG 380 Geographical Patterns of Health and Disease (4) [Offered: Winter.]
- GEOG
480 Environmental Geography, Climate, and Health (5) [Offered: Winter.]
- HIST 211 Introduction to the History of Science (5)
- HIST 311 Science in Civilization: Antiquity to 1600 (5)
- HIST 312 Science in Civilization: Science in Modern Society (5)
- HIST
314 The Psychoanalytic Revolution in Historical Perspective (5)
- MHE 401 History of Modern Medicine (3)
- MHE 402 Ethical Theory (5)
- MHE 404 Metaethical Theory (5)
- MHE 411 Introduction to Bioethics (3)
- MHE 413 History of Alternative Healing (3)
- MHE 417 Disease in History (3)
- MHE 440 Philosophy of Medicine (5)
- MHE 474 Justice in Health Care (5) [Offered: Jointly with PHIL 411.]
- MHE 481 The Pursuit of Health in American Society (3)
- MHE 483 The Rise and Development of Sports Medicine (3)
- MHE 485
Concepts of the Body in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century America (3)
- PHIL 242 Introduction to Medical Ethics (5)
- PHIL 411 Justice in Health Care (5) [Offered: Jointly with MHE 474.]
- PHIL 459 Philosophy of Medicine (5) [Offered: Jointly with MHE 440.]
- PHIL
481
Philosophy
of
Biology (5)
- PSYCH 210 Human Sexuality (5)
- PSYCH 257 Psychology of Gender (5) [Offered: Jointly with WOMEN 257.]
- PSYCH 436 Developmental Aspects of Sport Competition (4)
- PSYCH
451 Health
Psychology (5)
- SOC 431 Fertility and Mortality (3)
- SOC
486
Human
Family
Systems:
Biological
and
Social
Aspects (5) [Offered: Jointly with ANTH 486.]
- SPHSC
250
Human
Communication
and
Its
Disorders (5) [Offered: Autumn and Summer.]
- UCONJ 290 Diversity Issues in the Health Care Environment (1-2, max. 2)
- UCONJ
490
Social
Sensitivity
in
Health
Care (3)
- WOMEN
488
Women
and
Sciences (5)
Environmental Health Practice
For over 100 years, environmental health specialists have guarded the
public's health from hazards in the environment - in the air, food, water,
soils and biota. The emphasis area in Environmental Health practice offers
a broad, multidisciplinary approach to environmental health issues. Students
learn to identify the major sources of health risks: characterize the
processes through which these hazards are transported to the public,
develop a means of preventing or controlling adverse effects on human
health or environmental quality, and effectively communicate information
to both the public and health professionals.
You may receive elective credits for any of the below courses if the course does not already count as an Environmental Health core course. The list of elective credits is purposely brief. There are many other courses in the UW catalog that could count toward this interest area, however, it is important that you discuss these courses with the interest area advisor before registering for them to make sure that they will count toward your degree requirements. The purpose of this is to help ensure that students have maximum flexibility in choosing their electives at the same time ensuring that they have put together coherent program that will serve them well as they are seeking a job or pursuing a graduate degree.
Please, contact the Program Manager or Chuck Treser with further questions.
This interest
area's adviser is Chuck Treser (ctreser@u.washington.edu).
Environmental Health
- ENV H 417 Non-Ionizing Radiation and Electrical Safety (2) [Offered: Winter of odd years.]
- ENV H 440 Water, Wastewater, and Health (3) [Offered: Autumn.]
- ENV H 441 Food Protection (3) [Offered: Winter.]
- ENV H 442 Vector Control (3) [Offered: Spring.]
- ENV H 445 Solid Waste Management (3) [Offered: Spring.]
- ENV H 446 Hazardous Waste Management (3) [Offered: Winter.]
- ENV H 449 Health Effects of Air Pollution (2) [Offered: Winter of even years.]
- ENV H 451 Ecology of Environmentally Transmitted Microbiological hazards (3) [Offered: Autumn.]
- ENV H 452 Detection and Control of Environmentally Transmitted Microbiological Hazards (3) [Offered: Winter.]
- ENV H 453 Industrial Hygiene (3) [Offered: Autumn.]
- ENV H 457 Industrial and Environmental Noise (3) [Offered: Spring of even years.]
- ENV H 461 Air Pollution Control (4) [Offered: Autumn and Spring.]
- ENV H 470 EH Practice: Administration and Management (2) [Offered: Autumn.]
- ENV H 471 EH Regulation (3) [Offered: Winter.]
- ENV H 480 Environmental Health Problems (Variable, max. 6) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- ENV H 482 Environmental Health Internship (2-15, max. 15) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- ENV H 490 Community Air Pollution (3) [Offered: Spring.]
- ENV H 497 Environmental Health Special Electives (Variable) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
- ENV H 499 Undergraduate Research (Variable) [Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer.]
Environmental Studies
- ANTH 210 Introduction to Environmental Anthropology
- HSTAA 221 Environmental History of the U.S.
- PHIL / ENVIR 243 Introduction to Environmental Ethics
Environmental Planning
- CEP 200 (Community and Environmental Planning) Introduction to Community & Env. Planning (5) [Offered: Autumn, Spring, and Summer.]
- CEP 302 Environmental Response (5) [Offered: Winter.]
Additional
courses
in Geography, Medical History and Ethics, Political
Science,
and Sociology may also be
appropriate.
