SHE Students will participate in National Occupational Health Internship Program

Amanda Murray and Alexander Asiedu Gyebi, a junior and senior, respectively, in the Department of Community Health and Sustainability will be the recipients of a student research supplemental grant awarded to Dr. Craig Slatin.  The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has provided federal stimulus funds (from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – ARRA) to support student research internships in environmental public health.  Dr. Slatin’s grant from NIEHS supports The New England Consortium, a health and safety training program that addresses the occupational and environmental health issues facing workers and communities related to hazardous waste and hazardous materials incident emergency response.  Both students are in the environmental health concentration of Community Health and Sustainability and will serve as an exciting model for students entering the department’s new Environmental Health B.S. program.
  
Murray and Gyebi will be research interns on two projects conducted by Department of Work Environment faculty and researchers – Drs. Susan Woskie, Susan Shepherd, and Maria Brunnette.  Both of these research projects address the health and safety needs of building trades workers.  The project run by Drs. Woskie and Shepherd is studying silica dust and noise exposures on construction sites.  Dr. Brunnette is studying innovative and effective ways of providing health and safety communication and education to Latino construction workers.  The students will engage in exposure sampling and analysis and interviewing workers and contractors about health and safety conditions.  Mr. Gyebi has completed his undergraduate studies and next Fall will being a masters program in Work Environment, enabling him to directly apply this research internship to his graduate studies.

Gyebi and Murray will participate in the national Occupational Health Internship Program (OHIP).  In June they will go to Los Angeles and attend an OHIP meeting with other students from around the U.S.  The OHIP’s purpose is to encourage students to pursue careers in occupational health and safety and to work in support of workers and unions to create healthy and safe work and a clean environment.  The students from across the country will share their projects, talk about how they can be a support network for each other, and will plan their project reports will which be shared in a videoconference in August.  The students then will be part of a larger national network of students and young occupational and environmental health professionals.
  
This is the first time that UMass Lowell students are participating in the new OHIP.  Drs. Margaret Quinn, Chuck Levenstein, Rafael Moure, Eduardo Siqueira, and Craig Slatin all were part of the effort to get this program going about 10 years ago. Drs. Siqueira and Slatin are on the national advisory board. Dr. Slatin’s hope is that this will be the first of many summers when UML students attend the OHIP. 

Slatin noted, “I am delighted that UMass Lowell is helping President Obama to advance a renewed and sustainable economy by providing students with research to encourage their careers in advancing environmentally sound and healthy and safe jobs.”