STIMULUS FUNDS
Investment in Environmental and Occupational
Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009, the University of Washington has received nearly $200 million in economic stimulus awards targeted at creating new jobs, retaining current jobs, and advancing public health research to stimulate future growth. Our department received more than $400,000 from the federal stimulus package, which is being used to train students, teachers, and Washington state workers.
Green jobs
Ten percent of the national ARRA budget was allocated to expand and adopt clean energy initiatives and to foster job creation in this area. By the end of 2009, nearly ten months after ARRA’s inception, the Council of Economic Advisers estimated that the funds disseminated have directly saved or created approximately 52,000 clean energy jobs and supported another 11,000 jobs throughout the economy. They expect new opportunities to increase substantially as ARRA spending on energy and conservation rises.
“Green-collar” or “green” jobs have been gaining nationwide attention. They are occupations that are environmentally friendly and involve manufacturing and constructing materials that minimize or avoid waste, pollution, or greenhouse gas emissions. Examples of green jobs include building, installing, and maintaining energy-efficient resources, such as wind turbines and solar panels.
Agencies, such as the National Institute for Occupa-tional Safety and Health (NIOSH), caution that as traditional job fields become “greener,” careful and purposeful safeguards must be put in place for workers to ensure their safety and health. Workers involved in green jobs, such as building wind turbines, should be as well protected from hazards as those constructing a multi-story building.
In our department, an ARRA supplement supports the Continuing Education (CE) program’s efforts to train workers enrolled in the Seattle Vocational Institute Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training program who are preparing for jobs that involve green building and energy retrofits. CE staff have developed curriculum with consortium partners, the University of California (UC)-Los Angeles and UC-Berkeley, to teach workers about green building systems, health and safety hazards, prevention strategies, and green chemistry.
Green chemistry is one of the “design out” strategies, which is part of “Prevention through Design,” a movement led by a number of federal agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). By initially “designing out” or minimizing hazards and risks in new occupations, injuries and illnesses can be prevented. For example, green chemistry consists of using and producing chemicals and chemical processes that reduce waste products, have nontoxic components and improved efficiency, and thereby reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts.
As workers are being trained for green jobs, our department’s faculty and staff are identifying and addressing critical health and safety issues, so that workers can recognize and better protect themselves from potential hazards.
In February, CE began offering health and safety courses to students preparing to work in green jobs. To teach the courses, CE is partnering with Sellen Construction, a leader in sustainable practices that worked on criteria with the US Green Building Council for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green projects certification. Marcia Baker, UW Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, is also a collaborator and instructor.
Health Opportunities for Workers
Research experience for future workforce
In the last 50 years, environmental health responsibilities have significantly expanded. Skilled professionals are needed to adequately respond to complex environmental health conditions that affect millions of people. And yet, “ample evidence indicates that the environmental public health workforce is too small to meet its responsibilities,” stated the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its 2003 report, “National Strategy to Revitalize Environmental Public Health Services.”
Between 1998 and 2008, environmental sciences graduate degree programs at 40 accredited schools of public health had a 20% decrease in the number of students earning advanced degrees, according to the Association of Schools of Public Health. To help better prepare and retain students in the field, our department has developed the Environmental Health Research Experience Program, a nine-week, summer internship that offers select undergraduates first-hand experience in the laboratories of leading environmental and occupational health researchers. This program targets outstanding students from disadvantaged or under- represented groups and offers them a stipend to complete a substantial research project.
Students work with researchers who are investigating environmental and occupational health issues. For example, in 2009, two students investigated the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in urban areas and on Puget Sound recreational beaches. MRSA is an opportunistic pathogen that is spread via contact with infected surfaces or persons, and it has become a major health concern in hospitals and in communities.
Another student collected air filter samples from firefighters in Georgia performing prescribed burns. Woodsmoke is made up of a variety of different gases and particles, which makes it difficult to assess exposures to specific components of concern, such as 2.5 micrometers or smaller particles. The student was testing the accuracy of a woodsmoke biomarker to assess the firefighters’ occupational exposures.
This program is supported by a five-year grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. With a supplemental grant from ARRA, the 2010 summer program will be able to fund a total of 10 trainees and two science educators from other colleges.
For further reading
Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers
DEOHS Continuing Education Program
Environmental Health Research Experience Program
ARRA Funds Science Education
Using ARRA funding, Professor Zhengui Xia hired elementary school teacher Teresa Sherwood to work in her laboratory during summer 2009. Sherwood gained laboratory-based research experience and was able to take this training back to the classroom.
Sherwood has been an educator for four years, and currently teaches first grade at Lowell Elementary School in Seattle. She explains that students in her class are “fairly undifferentiated in terms of their skills and predilections.” Therefore, as a teacher, she has an important role in preparing students early in life for careers. Her experience in Xia’s laboratory wasn’t about teaching the neurobiology concepts she learned to her students. Rather, she found the experience valuable because she learned research skills and how scientists collaborate.
She hopes to apply the collegial method used by the UW scientists in her classroom. She feels the method creates a community where people are willing to take risks and work with their peers to come up with answers to problems. “When students are struggling, they can talk about it or say they don’t understand and work together to create solutions,” says Sherwood. “We’re used to working alone, but working together is also important to advance learning.”
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