Office of Education

Environmental Health Sciences Practicum

To meet practicum requirements prior to graduation, many Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) students elect to complete a one-term, full-time (between 150-300 hours total) practicum experience during the summer between the first and second year of the program. The practicum can take various forms depending on your area of interest, from participation in an ongoing research or evaluation project to working with a government agency or community-based organization.

Once you identify a practicum opportunity of interest, you must obtain advisor approval (via email) and submit a Scope of Work form online. Upon successful completion of the practicum, you must promptly submit a practicum completion form online to meet your graduation requirement. EHS students in the Global Health Certificate complete their practicum with a six-month internship abroad that spans the first summer through the fall of the second year.

EHS Practicum Competencies

The EHS practicum experience should meet one or more of the following competencies:

  • Apply the principles of exposure assessment to evaluate human exposures to environmental and occupational hazards.

  • Apply and synthesize content learned through coursework in environmental health sciences that can be applied to practice in a professional setting.

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the complexities of the EHS field and how major stakeholders collaborate with the goal of informing public and private constituency groups of environmental outcomes.

  • Include interactions with the affected public, medical professionals, local public health officials, county and state departments of Environmental Health, Environmental Protection and Public Health, consultants/pharmaceutical companies, or federal agencies.

  • Identify biological mechanisms whereby environmental and/or occupational agents adversely affect human health.

  • Identify factors that affect susceptibility to adverse human health effects of environmental and/or occupational agents.

  • Recommend interventions for reducing human exposures to environmental and occupational hazards.

  • Communicate effectively, in writing and orally, knowledge of environmental hazards to other professionals and the public, including effective risk communication.

  • Build knowledge within the areas of Molecular Epidemiology, Toxicology, Occupational Health, or Industrial Hygiene.

  • Apply Environmental Health learnings to policy.

  • Contribute to studies related to the effect of Climate Change on human health.