Courses

All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

562 Air Quality Assessment
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.

565 Environmental Health Practices
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.

567 Environmental Compliance Regulations
Principles of environmental compliance obligations, common law, trespass, nuisance, and negligence. The major federal environmental laws affecting companies and agencies, and selected state and local regulations. Civil and criminal penalties and liabilities attached to environmental regulations. Strategies for compliance including proactive and environmental management as a method for reducing legal exposure to environmental issues.

590TL Developmental Origins of Disease
Key concepts and emerging concerns in the field of developmental toxicology.  Through a combination of lectures and discussions of historical examples and recent research papers, students will learn how the combination of teratogens and critical windows of exposure can result in a spectrum of outcomes ranging from birth defects to diseases that emerge at later life stages.    

600 Molecular Epidemiology
Theoretical aspects and hands-on laboratory methods for molecular epidemiology.  Topics include biomarkers, gene-environmental interactions, nutrient-toxicant interactions, and epigenetics.  Laboratory components include DNA isolation, PCR and genotyping.   

666 Environmental and Occupational Toxicology I
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.

667 Environmental and Occupational Toxicology II (2nd sem)
Continuation of PUBHLTH 666, which is a prerequisite.

671 Risk Assessment and Management
Toxicological and epidemiological basis of occupational and environmental health standards for heavy metals, gases, and carcinogens. Economic and legislative components.

690X Exposure Assessment In Environmental and Public Health
General approach to and quantitative methods of exposure assessment; issues associated with interpretation of exposure information; statistical considerations, validation, and ethics; quantitative exposure modeling; concepts of biomarkers and biomonitoring.  

691B Graduate Seminar—Research Methods
Graduate students research and present one-hour seminar on a topic related to Environmental Health, and research a topic for a term paper.

696 Independent Study
Credit, 3-9.

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. Credit, 3-9.

697 Special Topics

698 Practice Experience Practicum
Opportunity for supervised field observation to gain practice experience in selected public health agencies.

699 Master’s Thesis (M.S. candidates only)
Independent research leading to a thesis on a public health subject. Results should be suitable for publication. Credit, 6-9.

790VS Graduate Seminars in Environmental Health
Current advances in environmental health science via lectures from UMass faculty with research programs related to environmental health, UMass Ph.D. students in the EHS program, as well as visiting scholars. Seminar topics will change from week to week and will include topics such as pollution, exposure assessments, mechanistic toxicology, environmental health policy, environmental epidemiology, and others.  

791L Seminar—Advanced Toxicology
Explores recent developments in molecular toxicology with particular emphasis on mechanisms of toxicity and tissue repair following damage. 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 also considered.

899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 18.