Community-Engaged Environmental Data Science Training

Numerous studies have documented population differences in adverse health outcomes, ranging from an increased prevalence of asthma, obesity, pregnancy complications, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Research shows that environmental factors, such as water, air, metals, chemicals, food, housing, and geography contribute to these health outcomes. However, training is limited in how to ask informed research questions and design effective studies to evaluate differences in environmental health outcomes. To identify solutions, environmental health scientists must integrate and understand the multi-faceted drivers of environmentally-related diseases. We will address this training gap by coupling multi-disciplinary concepts with the use of appropriate epidemiologic, exposure assessment, and statistical analytic techniques that employ sociological constructs and theories for effective community environmental health research.

This two-day training will provide environmental health scientists with training in community environmental health research. The training’s multi-disciplinary approach will cover the steps involved in conducting informed, effective, and solution-driven community environmental health research. Our team consists of scientists with over 30 years of combined research in the fields of environmental health, sociology, epidemiology, health policy, community engagement, and biostatistics. Lectures will cover key concepts, frameworks, and methods for conducting community environmental health research. We will then build on this knowledge with hands-on learning experiences from case studies that allow participants to apply real-world datasets to address key research questions in environmental health and community health using exposure assessment techniques, epidemiologic methods, community-based participatory research, and analytic approaches, such as interaction and mediation. 

By the end of the training, participants will be familiar with the following topics:

• Sociological constructs and theories relevant to environmental health
• Epidemiologic conceptual framework
• Study design advantages and challenges
• Data collection, questionnaire design, and measurement error
• Data analysis: basics of interaction and mediation
• Emerging topics and methods in community environmental health research

Summer 2026: The Community-Engaged Environmental Data Science Training will be a hybrid setup with an in-person training taking place at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA and simultaneously livestreamed for remote attendees on July 9-10, 2026. Please note this training is not a self-paced, pre-recorded online training. All training start and end times are in PDT.

Investigators from any institution and from all career stages are welcome to attend, and we particularly encourage trainees and early-stage investigators to participate. There are two requirements to attend this training:

1. Basic familiarity with R is recommended to get the most out of the training. If you have not used this platform before or need a refresher, step through the tutorials outlined below so you have the basic skills needed for success.
2. Each participant is required to have a personal laptop/computer and a free, basic Posit Cloud (formerly RStudio Cloud) account. All lab sessions will be done using Posit Cloud.

As noted in the requirements above, knowing basic R platform and commands is recommended in order to get the most out of the training. If you are new to R or need a refresher, review the below tutorials to be well prepared for the labs:

• Posit Cloud (formerly RStudio Cloud) tutorial for training Prep: R Programming Tutorial - Learn the Basics
• Once you create your free, basic Posit Cloud account for the training: Primers on Programming Basics and Visualization Basics.

If you have any specific questions about R and R studio in the context of the Community-Engaged Environmental Data Science Training, please email us.

Summer 2026 instructing team is being finalized, but will be comparable to the 2025 lineup below.

Training Co-Director: Joan Casey, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington.

Training Co-Director: Tamarra James-Todd, PhD, Professor of Environmental Reproductive Epidemiology, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Gary Adamkiewicz, PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Exposure Disparities, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Tarik Benmarhnia, PhD, Associate Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Department, UC San Diego. 

Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director of Education and Policy at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Rashmi Joglekar, PhD, Associate Director of Science, Policy & Engagement, UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment.

Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH, Professor, Environmental Health Sciences; Community Health Sciences, UC Berkeley.

Kalya Murray, MA, Executive Director, Bethel Institute for Community Development.

Natalie Slopen, ScD, Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Kathryn Tomsho, PhD, MPH, Instructor, Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Vernon K. Walker, MPP, MTS, Director of Content & External Strategy at the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.

Training scholarships are available for the Community-Engaged Environmental Data Science Training.

"It was a great training for refining my understanding of environmental exposures. I learned so much about the history of the field and the speakers and presentations really reaffirmed my passion for advancing health equity in the field." - Epidemiologist at Alameda County Public Health Department, 2025

"This workshop is an excellent theoretical and applied training on integrating social and environmental epidemiological concepts and research. The instructors were fantastic and clearly demonstrated how their work translates to real-world communities." - Research Scientist at University of Michigan, 2025

"Really appreciate the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of the entire instructing team!" - Fellow at Cincinnati Children's, 2025

"The workshop is a must for anyone doing analysis, research, or reporting on [community environmental health] efforts. The topics covered establish a good foundation for understanding [community environmental health] research and applying these approaches to topics outside of public health." - Fellow at NOAA, 2024

"A detail-packed two-days that provides critical foundational knowledge of [community environmental health] and its applications across environmental epidemiology. I am so grateful to have taken this course and to have the resources to revisit and reference to enhance my knowledge, research, and impact moving forward." - Faculty Member at Geisinger, 2024

"The training was an incredibly intense yet rewarding two-day experience. As someone new to the field, I greatly appreciated how the course began with fundamental concepts and progressed to practical, real-life applications. I gained a wealth of knowledge, both technical and theoretical. Beyond the valuable content, the course was a fantastic networking opportunity. The presenters were outstanding, engaging, knowledgeable, and responsive to all questions and concerns." - Postdoc at University of Minnesota, 2024

"I absolutely enjoyed the training. The topics spanned a wide range and were highly relevant, and the lectures insightful and stimulating. The boot camp was not solely tied to conceptual understanding - there are quantitative analysis sessions that also offer hands-on tutorials that allowed one to gain a more concrete and practical understanding of the procedures. I highly recommend it to all current and future [community environmental health] researchers and practitioners." - Postdoc at Columbia University, 2024

"Excellent training on the past, present, and future of [community environmental health] research with participants and instructors from diverse disciplines and backgrounds. I would highly recommend this training for anyone who has been working in the [community environmental health] field for years, as well as those who are new to the field." - Faculty Member at Chapman University, 2023

"This course will teach you how to integrate [community environmental health] principles into your work. Whether you are interested in geospatial analyses, implementation science, causal inference, community-engaged research, or science communication this course has something for everyone." - Graduate Student Researcher at New York University Langone Health, 2023

"I absolutely enjoyed the training. I found all the topics really insightful. It was a great balance of [community environmental health] research and quantitative data analysis. Thank you." - Staff Member at Air Alliance Houston, 2023

"The training was indeed thought-provoking and ranks among the best I have attended in the past few years. This 2-day course covered all the topics I was hoping for, and even more that I had not anticipated. The instructors provided a step-by-step, hands-on tutorial on the thought process for identifying [community environmental health] questions and finding appropriate methods to address them. I was also impressed by an invited speaker's talk on how they have actively used their research to influence policies throughout their career." - Postdoc at Harvard Medical School, 2023

Registration Fee is based on your category. This is a hybrid training, meaning attendees can choose to attend the live training either 1) in-person in Seattle, WA or 2) virtually livestream via Zoom. The in-person registration fee includes course material, breakfast, and lunch on training days. Lodging and transportation are not included. The virtual registration fee includes course material, which will be made available to all participants both during and after the conclusion of the training. 

2026 Registration Category Rates: 

• Student/Postdoc/Trainee: 
  • Early-bird rate: $595 (in-person), $450 (virtual)
  • Regular rate: $695 (in-person), $550 (virtual)
• Faculty/Academic Staff/Non-Profit Organizations/Government Agencies: 
  • Early-bird rate: $695 (in-person), $550 (virtual) 
  • Regular rate: $795 (in-person), $650 (virtual)  
• Corporate/For-Profit Organizations: 
  • Early-bird rate: $895 (in-person), $750 (virtual) 
  • Regular rate: $995 (in-person), $850 (virtual) 

$100 early-bird discount is automatically applied if you register before the May 15 deadline.  

• $100 Early-bird Discount: This is automatically applied if you register before the May 15 early-bird deadline.  
• 10% Columbia/UW Discount: This is valid for any active student, postdoc, staff, or faculty at Columbia University. If paying by credit card, use your Columbia email address during the registration process to automatically have the discount applied. If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, see below.  
• 10% Mailman Alumni Discount: This is valid for any individual who graduated from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. To access the Mailman Alumni discount and receive a registration code, please email sharp_program@cumc.columbia.edu your graduation year and degree.  
• Group discounts are available for organizations sending 5+ participants. Please contact us directly at sharp_program@cumc.columbia.edu for more information.  

If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, submit this Columbia Internal Transfer Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.

If you would prefer to pay by invoice/check, please submit this Invoice Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.

Cancellation notices must be received via email at least 30 days prior to the training start date in order to receive a full refund, minus a $75 administrative fee. Cancellation notices received via email 14-29 days prior to the training will receive a 75% refund, minus a $75 administrative fee. Please email your cancellation notice to ColumbiaSHARP.CEH@gmail.com. Due to workshop capacity and preparation, we regret that we are unable to refund registration fees for cancellations less than 14 days prior to the training.

If you are unable to attend the training, we encourage you to send a substitute within the same registration category. Please inform us of the substitute via email at least one week prior to the training so we can include them on attendee communications, gather registration details, and provide materials.Should the substitute fall within a different registration category (e.g., you are a faculty member and they are a postdoc), the credit card on file will be credited/charged respectively. Please email substitute inquiries to ColumbiaSHARP.CEH@gmail.com. In the event Columbia must cancel the event, your registration fee will be fully refunded.