Elaine Briggs Internship Fund
In Kyu Park (PhD, Environmental Health Sciences)
Inkyu Park is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. He has been working with Dr. Richard Peltier since enrolling in the program in 2021. He has two research interests. One is optimizing the performance of low-cost sensors for ambient air quality monitoring, with the aim of promoting health and preventing diseases in developing nations. Another research interest focuses on 3D printer particle emissions and the effectiveness of masks and respirators in filtering ultrafine particles generated by 3D printers. With this foundational research experience, he will conduct research to protect workers’ health and safety in the workplace. His hobbies are reading books and watching documentary videos.
During this summer, I am going to collaborate with staff at the Environmental Health and Safety Department at Umass Amherst. I will conduct various projects related to multi-potential chemical exposures and occupational safety. One of the examples is investigating 3D printer particle emissions at the campus.
One of my study goals is to become a public health scientist and researcher to promote workers’ health against chemical exposure in various workplaces. Through this internship experience, I will obtain knowledge about the potential routes of various chemical exposure and will learn how to design and develop appropriate prevention methods and safety management systems for chemical exposure in the working environment.
I am grateful to the Elaine Briggs scholarship donors. With your generous assistance and support, I will strive to learn and grow, working towards the promotion of the environment and health conditions of our neighbors, workers, and communities. Once again, thank you very much again for your internship fund.
Elise Pierce
Elise Pierce is a senior public health major pursuing the 4+1 accelerated M.S. degree in Environmental Health Sciences. She has been working in Dr. Laura Vandenberg’s environmental health lab since sophomore year at UMass, and her research focuses on the effects of environmental exposure to chemicals on hormone sensitive outcomes in mice, specifically in the mouse mammary gland. She is a member of the Commonwealth Honors College and plans to pursue environmental health research in the future.
Thank you so much for honoring me with the Elaine Briggs award. It significantly helped my ability to pursue environmental health research during the summer. In my environmental health lab at UMass, I worked on a project that assessed endpoints of endocrine disruption in mouse mammary glands after exposure to a novel chemical catalyst that was designed to degrade complex pharmaceutical contaminants and pesticides in water. This project was extremely interesting and ended up contributing to my honors thesis, and I appreciate the opportunity to be involved in environmental health research like this thanks to the help of this scholarship. I am very grateful to be the recipient of the Elaine Briggs Internship Fund, and I thank you for your role in helping students pursue their interests and career goals at UMass.