MPH in Public Health: Environmental Health
Concentration in Environmental Health
The Master of Public Health program with a concentration in environmental health (EH) prepares students to move into the front lines of public health. The curriculum first gives a firm grounding in environmental health science and policy, and then allows students to tailor further coursework to their interests in environmental epidemiology; environmental exposures and risk assessment; community-based environmental health and justice; or global ecology, environmental sustainability, and health. A final academic project and hands-on experience in a work setting complete the MPH concentration in environmental health. Our graduates find rewarding careers in public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and research and consulting settings.
All EH concentrators must take EH 765 to meet the MPH core course requirement. It is strongly recommended that concentrators in environmental health take the 4-credit core course in biostatistics (BS 703 Biostatistics).
Concentration Requirements (minimum 16 credits)
All concentrators must take:
- EH 768 Introduction to Toxicology, with a B- or better
In addition to EH 768, environmental health concentrators are required to complete at least 12 credits from the following list of courses:
- EH 710 Physiologic Principles for Public Health
- EH 713 Molecular Biology and Public Health
- EH 714 Public Health Response to Emergencies
- EH 735 Environmental Determinants of Infectious Disease
- EH 745 Wastewater and Health/Sustainable Sanitation
- EH 750 Water Quality and Public Health
- EH 757 Environmental Epidemiology
- EH 780 Great Calamities and Their Consequences for Public Health
- EH 783 Application of Environmental Health
- EH 804 Exposure Assessment
- EH 805 Environmental Health Science, Policy, and the Law
- EH 806 Development and the Environment
- EH 807 Urban Environmental Health
- EH 811 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Public Health
- EH 840 Intermediate Toxicology
- EH 866 Risk Assessment Methods
- EH 871 Advanced Topics in Environmental Health
- EH 914 Doctoral Seminar
- EH 961 Directed Studies in Environmental Health
- EH 962 Directed Research in Environmental Health
- PH 825 The Role of Human and Environmental Factors in Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases
Courses from other concentrations that carry environmental health credit:
- EP 752 Cancer Epidemiology
- EP 755 Infectious Disease Epidemiology
EH courses (not for concentration credit):
- EH 708 Introduction to Environmental Health
Areas of Emphasis
Although students do not formally declare an area of emphasis within the environmental health concentration, most students choose to focus in one of the following optional areas. For more information, see the concentrator guide.
- Environmental epidemiology
- Environmental exposures and risk assessment.
- Community environmental health and justice.
- Global ecology, environmental sustainability, and health.
Culminating Courses
The following classes are considered culminating courses in environmental health; students must declare the culminating experience in one of these classes:
- EH 757 Environmental Epidemiology
- EH 804 Exposure Assessment
- EH 840 Intermediate Toxicology
- EH 866 Risk Assessment Methods
- EH 961 Directed Studies in Environmental Health (when completed for 4 credits and approved specifically as a culminating course)
At the end of each semester, the department holds a seminar session in which students completing a capstone course present their projects to one another and to the faculty involved in the students’ work. Students must demonstrate a B average or better in the class at the drop with a “W” date in order to be able to present at the seminar session. The students’ presentation work is graded on a pass/fail basis. In this final seminar, students explain their analysis of a relevant EH problem and its significance to people with different perspectives, and they situate their work within the broader framework of environmental health.
