Johns Hopkins University is giving engineers a way to study how they can create solutions that affect public health with the establishment of a new Department of Environmental Health and Engineering (EHE).
This is time of heightened public awareness about the complex relationship between the environment and human health. From air pollution increasing the rates of asthma and cancer, to the effects of rising global temperatures on the spread of infectious diseases, the environment’s impact on our health is becoming increasingly clear.
Engineers following these trends might be wondering what they can do to solve such problems.
There exists a great deal of potential for designing, scaling-up and implementing public health solutions using engineering know-how. Likewise, collaborative research can lead to the development of engineering-based solutions to address environmental health issues, including contaminated water supplies, airborne toxins or the spread of disease.
John’s Hopkins’ new department builds on the foundation formed by two of JHU’s longstanding program departments: the Whiting School of Engineering’s Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, and the Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences. In its announcement, JHU stated that this new department is the first program of its kind to be affiliated with both a school of engineering and a school of public health.
Students will have access to an interdisciplinary range of courses and research opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate degree programs spanning issues at the intersection of engineering and public health. These include designing and developing new systems, technologies and policies to help mitigate environmental threats and protect human lives.
“In creating the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, we have combined the depth and breadth of expertise needed to propel discovery and innovation and to educate the next generation of scholars capable of solving critical, complex, multidisciplinary problems at the interface of engineering and public health,” said Ed Schlesinger, dean of the Whiting School of Engineering.
Currently, the department plans to pursue academic and research activities spanning environmental engineering, data analytics, environmental and health policy and biological science processes.
As it moves forward, the EHE plans to offer engineering students interested in these topics additional courses and degree programs on current and emerging topics related to environmental engineering and public health.
The EHE will offer the same range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in environmental engineering—and the same master’s and doctoral degrees in public health—as the original departments.
For more information, visit the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.