School of Health Sciences

Students in the Occupational and Environmental Health Science program get broad training in identifying, assessing and controlling environmental factors that threaten the health and well being of workers, the community and the environment. At the Masters level all students take a core curriculum of basic sciences related to occupational and environmental health and pursue further coursework and research depending on their particular area of interest. We have two videos about studying OEHS at Purdue that you can watch. One has questions and answers from the faculty, and the other has comments from students.

Because we are ABET accredited at the graduate and undergraduate level, we are featuring a Webinar in partnership with ABET and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that promotes Prevention through Design (PtD) as a learning objective not only for our program but for universities as a whole who are ABET or wish to become ABET accredited. Please view the ABET/NIOSH/Purdue/PtD Webinar below for this 45 minute presentation. We hope you will find it useful as it features some our PtD research in our Occupational and Environmental Health Science Graduate Program.

ABET/NIOSH/Purdue/PtD Webinar

The School of Health Sciences has two main options for the Master's Degree in Occupational and Environmental Health Science: (1) Master's with thesis and (2) Master's by coursework (without thesis). The core coursework and additional details of the requirements for these M.S. degrees are available for the Thesis and Coursework programs.

The Occupational and Environmental Health Science Masters Degree (thesis and non-thesis) is ABET-accredited under the ABET criteria for Industrial Hygiene and Similarly Named Programs.

Students seeking a Ph.D. in Occupational and Environmental Health Science complete a core curriculum and then pursue additional coursework and research related to their area of specialization (Occupational Health, Environmental Health, and Ergonomics) and research topic.

Financial Support Available

• NIOSH Fellowships
• Graduate Teaching Assistantships
• Research Assistantships (EPA, NIH, and other funding sources)

Areas of Research

• Aerosol deposition and lung disease
• Exposure and risk assessment
• Ergonomics
• Indoor air quality and bioaerosols
• Liver/lung toxicology
• Non-ionizing radiation
• Occupational epidemiology
• Solvent metabolism

Mission Statement and Objectives

Mission Statement

The mission of the graduate program in Occupational and Environmental Health Science is to prepare its graduates to be professionals, leaders and researchers in Industrial Hygiene and related fields. Such professionals will be highly competent, effective and ethical in applying scientific principles to carrying out activities to protect workers from the adverse effects of hazardous environmental agents and workplace stressors.

Objectives

Graduates of this program will be highly competent to:

1. Conduct assessments of workplace environments to determine exposures to environmental agents and workplace stressors.
2. Evaluate the health risks due to exposures to environmental agents and workplace stressors.
3. Recommend strategies, procedures and equipment for reducing occupational health hazards.
4. Communicate to workers, managers, other professionals and the general public the nature of environmental exposures, the health risks associated with these exposures, and methods for eliminating or minimizing these risks.
5. Collaborate in interdisciplinary teams addressing occupational health issues.
6. Obtain, organizing and analyzing environmental monitoring data and preparing a technical written report based on this data.
7. Carry out their professional activities ethically.
8. Develop and lead programs to identify, assess and reduce workplace hazards.
9. Design and implement research studies in Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Health.
10. Give scientific and technical talks to professional groups on occupational health topics.
11. Write a research paper based on field studies, laboratory studies, modeling or a review of scientific literature.

More information on the Graduate Program