CAREERS

Careers in EOH | Alumni Profiles

Exterior organizations: ACOEM Career Center | SOT Resource Guide |

Preparation for Professional Careers

The field of environmental and occupational health is growing as a result of increased awareness of physical, biological and chemical hazards in our world, greater knowledge of their potential effects on human health, and more emphasis on personal and worker safety. Graduates can make a difference in improving quality of life and have a career that provides a good salary and promising professional opportunities.

A career in environmental health provides a diversity of career paths at any point in your professional life. Jobs are available in both the public and private sector. You can easily move from the role of researcher to manager to practitioner. Recent graduates surveyed are working as educators, toxicologists, risk assessment investigators, hazard specialists, compliance officers, industrial hygienists, ergonomists, occupational health physicians, research scientists, and public health advisors.

Environmental and occupational health experts perform a variety of important tasks. They:

  • Evaluate physical, chemical, biological, and ergonomic stresses that occur in the workplace.
  • Evaluate health risks and determining measures that best protect the public from hazardous health and safety exposures
  • Use multidisciplinary approaches to complex problem solving in areas such as industrial facility siting, solid and hazardous waste disposal technologies and protection of wet lands.
  • Study the effects of gaseous or particulate matter in the air that may have an adverse effects of human health or the environment (such as acid rain, ozone, hazardous materials, toxic wastes, radiation)
  • Work in pollution control, toxicology, hazardous waste management, health risk assessment
  • Develop strategies for prevention of contamination in surface and ground water, including agricultural chemicals, industrial pollutants and improper waste disposal.
  • Help deliver basic public health needs such as vector control, prevention of infectious diseases, food protection, housing, injury control, and consumer protection.
  • Use health education and communication to affect legislation and public awareness of environmental hazards.

Support for Students

Individual mentoring is provided by the student's committee chair, who can provide a variety of resources such as information about the current job market, financial assistance to attend professional meetings, and professional contacts. The Graduate Program Office sponsors several activities during the year to help students make the transition from student to professional life.

Career Development Workshop: Offered each May, the Career Development Workshop provides an opportunity to build relationships in the business community. The Graduate Program Office invites public health leaders from industry, consulting, governmental agencies, and advocacy groups to meet our students to discuss career trends and prospects, and describe what they look for in graduates.

Student Research Day: This annual event in late May provides graduating students an opportunity to present their research to fellow students, staff, faculty, and the wider community. The event is structured in a mini-conference format with presentations from select students followed by a poster session.