Environmental Health Science Courses
All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.
PUBHLTH 562 Air Quality Assessment (Spring Semester)
Present air pollution as a major public health problem. Topics include: air pollutants and their sources, health and economic effects, meteorology, sampling and analysis, air quality criteria and standards, control technology, control regulations and programs.
PUBHLTH 563 Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (Spring Semester)
Effect and control of radiation in the mammalian system. Includes sources, measurements, radiosensitivity, radiation chemistry, cellular effects, and acute and delayed effects in occupational, medical, and environmental exposures. Prerequisites: at least one year each of undergraduate chemistry, physics, and mathematics.
PUBHLTH 565 Environmental Health Practices (Spring and Fall Semesters)
The concepts of control methods used by environmental health and engineering practitioners. Topics include water, wastewater, solid wastes, food sanitation, vector control, housing, and accident control measures.
PUBHLTH 567 Environmental Compliance Regulations (Spring Semester)
Principles dealing with environmental compliance obligations, common law, trespass, nuisance and negligence. The major federal environmental laws affecting companies and agencies are reviewed along with selected state and local regulations. Also covered are civil and criminal penalties and liabilities attached to environmental regulations. Strategies are covered for compliance including proactive and environmental management as a method for reducing legal exposure from environmental issues.
PUBHLTH 592A Seminar - Bioaerosol Exposures (Fall Semester) (1 Credit)
Discussion of recent publications related to airborne biological exposures in both the indoor and outdoor environments. Examples of topics include, environmental and occupational exposures to bioaerosols that increase the risk of respiratory disease such as asthma; indoor mold; global climate change effects on bioaerosols; disease transmission on aircraft; SARS; influenza; bioterrorism.
PUBHLTH 660 Issues in Environmental Health Policy and Law (Fall Semester)
Describes and analyzes a range of major environmental policy and law issues. Subjects include the National Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act.
PUBHLTH 666 Environmental and Occupational Toxicology (Fall Semester)
The toxicological activity of toxic substances found in the general environment and in industrial settings. Topics include biochemical mechanisms for absorption, excretion, tissue distribution, metabolic transformations, and conjugations; comparative metabolism of animal species; special applications to the toxicology of heavy metals, pesticides, and other industrial chemicals.
PUBHLTH 667 Environmental and Occupational Toxicology II (Spring Semester)
Continuation of PUBHLTH 666, which is a prerequisite.
PUBHLTH 671 Risk Assessment and Management (Spring Semester)
Toxicological and epidemiological basis of occupational and environmental health standards for heavy metals, gases, and carcinogens. Economic and legislative components.
PUBHLTH 690X Exposure Assessment in Environmental and Public Health (Spring Semester)
Principles of contaminant exposure assessment including sampling methods, sampling protocols, and analysis techniques.
PUBHLTH 691B Graduate Seminar-Research Methods
(Spring Semester)
Graduate students research and present one-hour seminar on a topic related to Environmental Health, and research a topic and prepare a term paper.
PUBHLTH 696 Independent Study
PUBHLTH 696D Special Problems in Environmental Health
Special investigational or research problems for M.P.H. candidates or advanced students. Scope of the work can be varied to meet specified conditions.
PUBHLTH 697 Special Topics
PUBHLTH 698 Practice Experience Practicum
All M.P.H. students are required to complete a practice experience as part of their degree requirement, and may receive credit for the practice experience depending on their major department’s policy. Practice experiences may be paid or unpaid. Placements are arranged in consultation with the student’s faculty advisor or the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) Office of Public Health Practice and Outreach. The advisor reviews the student’s interests, preferences, financial factors, experience and skills, and is usually able to arrange for interviews with a suitable organization directly or through another faculty member.
PUBHLTH 699 Master's Thesis (M.S. candidates only) (Credit 6-9)
Independent research leading to a thesis on a public health subject. Results should be suitable for publication.
PUBHLTH 791L Seminar - Advanced Toxicology
(Spring Semester)
Explores recent developments in molecular toxicology with particular emphasis on mechanisms of toxicity and tissue repair following damage. Particular emphasis will focus on factors that affect the shape of the dose response especially in the low dose zone, and how this is affected by mechanisms of toxicity and the adaptive capacity of the organism. The implications of such recent developments in molecular toxicology for the risk assessment process will also be considered.
PUBHLTH 891 Research Seminar (Credit 1-3)
PUBHLTH 899 Doctoral Dissertation (Credit 18)
Research Seminar for doctoral candidates.
Public Health Core Courses
PUBHLTH 540 Introductory Biostatistics
Principles of statistics applied to analysis of biological and health data, evaluation of public health and clinical programs.
PUBHLTH 565 Environmental Health Practices
The concepts of control methods used by environmental health and engineering practitioners. Topics include water, wastewater, solid wastes, food sanitation, vector control, housing, and accident control measures.
PUBHLTH 601 Principles of Community Health Education
Principles of health education. Methods and approaches to community health. Family, school, and community dimensions and potentials. Types and use of various methods leading to community action. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
PUBHLTH 620 Principles of Public Health Practice
Introduction to the philosophy, nature, and scope of modern health and medical care organizations; administration and organization of governmental health programs, economic and political forces and their effects on health services and programs.
PUBHLTH 630 Principles of Epidemiology
An epidemiological perspective on health. General approaches for describing patterns of disease in groups of people, and elucidating various processes involved in creating differing levels of health in human groups. Lecture and lab examples of a wide range of contemporary health problems.
Other Courses
COMM-DIS 643 Hearing Conservation and Industrial Audiology
Effects of noise exposure on the functioning of the auditory system; principles of noise measurement; development of industrial hearing conservation programs. Prerequisite: COMM-DIS 313 or equivalent.
ENTOMOL 585 Toxicology of Insecticides
All aspects of insecticide chemistry, including toxicity, classification, pharmacodynamics and metabolism, mechanisms of action, resistance, and environmental toxicology. For those with toxicological, agricultural, or environmental interests. Prerequisite: organic chemistry.
ENTOMOL 592 Chemicals and the Environment
Concepts and principles of environmental toxicology. Chemical structure activity relationships; their interaction with environment. Basic principles; the predicted and observed fate of chemicals in various components of the biosphere. Hazard evaluation; fate and effects of chemicals in soil, plants, wildlife, aquatic organisms, and humans. Introduction to environmental toxicology. Prerequisite: organic chemistry.
FOOD-SCI 785 Toxicology
Evaluation of methods used to determine safety of economically important chemicals. Mechanisms of drug disposition and drug metabolism. Effect of toxic agents on bone marrow and blood cell formation. Histopathology of chemically damaged organs, neurotoxicology and genetic toxicology. (DNA damage, repair and tumorigenesis). Consent of instructor required.
