Focus area: Industrial Hygiene

Industrial Hygiene focuses on the recognition, evaluation, and control of exposure to toxic chemicals, radiation, biological materials and other environmental insults in the workplace, and other indoor spaces. Students in Industrial Hygiene will study methods to predict, measure, evaluate, and control these exposures. Opportunities are available to learn the design of ventilation systems and practice with state-of-the-art equipment and techniques for monitoring and evaluating exposure in the workplace. Students learn to measure radioactivity in the environment or to measure and control toxic aerosols and gases in the home or workplace. Students are also involved in research projects on exposure assessment and biomonitoring, aerosol characterization, occupational health, air pollution control engineering, photochemical smog processes and modeling, acid rain, global temperature changes, exposure to X-rays, radon in houses, radioactive waste disposal, nuclear power plant safety, bioaerosol sampling and air cleaning.

Employment Opportunities

Industrial Hygiene graduates can find careers in the public and private sectors. After graduation, about half of ESE masters degree students are employed by industry. Others are employed by state or federal agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the U.S. Armed Forces, or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Graduates receiving the Ph.D. degree are most often employed by universities or large foundations, but some have also gone to private industry or government work.

At the masters level students can emphasize either Air Pollution Control or Industrial Hygiene. Each master's student in Industrial Hygiene will ordinarily take all IH core courses, plus the core courses appropriate for specialization in an area of interest.

Curriculum

Industrial Hygiene Core Curriculum:
BIOS 145 Principles of Experimental Analysis
EPID 160 Principles of Epidemiology
ENVR 134 Introduction to Air and Industrial Hygiene
ENVR 135 Industrial Toxicology, or
ENVR 130 Health Effects of Environmental Agents, or
ENVR 290 Health Effects of Outdoor and Indoor Air Pollution,
ENVR 116 Aerosol Science

Additional Requirements:
ENVR 111 Laboratory Techniques and Field Measurements
ENVR 136 Radiation Hazards Evaluation
ENVR 139 Theory and Practice of Exposure Assessment
ENVR 250 Industrial Ventilation Design

Optional Courses:
NCSU MEA 410 Air Pollution Meteorology
ENVR 251 Air Pollution Control

Note: Students supported by NIOSH traineeships must also take concurrently: