New York Training Center for Emerging Technologies in Industrial Hygiene - The development of new technologies for detection of environmental contaminants have increased considerably
in the last 15 years. The technology in the form of new sensors, smartphone applications, and wearables devices
are widely available for researchers as well as consumers interested in obtaining environmental data. For
industrial hygienists, the availability of new sensors allows for the collection of greater spatial and temporally
resolved data which improves anticipation, recognition, measurement, and control of workplace exposures. This
proposal builds on a long-standing collaboration between the City University of New York School of Public Health
(CUNY SPH) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the NIOSH New York/New Jersey Educational
Research Center while adding new collaborations with CUNY’s Queens College and the CUNY Advanced
Science Research Center. The overall goal of this proposed training program is to add significant new training
and research opportunities for industrial hygiene students at the CUNY SPH in the hands-on use of sensor
technology and laboratory. Students will be trained to recognize and utilize state of the art new technologies that
can be used to quantify contaminants in the workplace such as total volatile organic compounds, particulate
matter, heat exposure, noise and ultraviolet radiation. This proposal will expand upon the existing NIOSH funded
industrial hygiene program to: 1) revise existing industrial hygiene curriculum to include training in laboratory
practices and sensor technologies, 2) fund student research projects in the evaluation and applicability low-cost
sensors to quantify workers’ exposure, 3) develop an outreach and training program in industrial hygiene for
Spanish speaking occupational health and safety trainers who train construction and other low wage Latinx
immigrant workers. We will provide five graduate assistantships per year for students to work with faculty mentors
in the research areas of sensor technologies or worker outreach programs. In addition, approximately 35
students in the Department of Environmental, Occupational, and Geospatial Health Sciences at the CUNY SPH
will enroll in updated laboratory and didactic courses. The program will also provide training to enhance the skills
of a group of 40 trainers associated with Latinx community-based organization in the New York/New Jersey
region who provide training in occupational safety and health in Spanish to low wage workers. By integrating
graduate training programs for industrial hygiene students with community-based training for occupational safety
and health trainers serving for low wage Latinx workers, this program will promote a commitment to community
engagement and service among our industrial hygiene trainees assisted by the enhanced use of low-cost sensor
technologies to identify, measure and control workplace exposures.
