Student Life
Experience the dynamic pulse of Chicago while building lifelong relationships with your cohort and collaborating closely with faculty. EOHS creates an unparalleled environment for academic and personal growth.
Intro
The Bureau of Labor and Statistics predicts an average 9% increase in job growth for careers in Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences over the next decade.
An education with us launches students into diverse careers in climate change and sustainability, environmental justice, exposure science, worker health and safety, injury prevention, air, and water quality. Our students have graduated and entered the workforce in roles at:
- United Airlines
- Abbott Laboratories
- Rivian Automotive
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- Chicago Department of Public Health and more!
Explore financial aid and student funding!
Spotlight on EOHS Alumni
Go to office hours and meet with your professors, with faculty that have research you’re interested in, even if you don’t plan on conducting any yourself. Learn about them and why they’re passionate about what they do, how they got into it, how the profession has changed. EOHS is just as much about being able to communicate with others as it is finding and controlling hazards.
Some of the most in-depth learning and growing I did was due to the faculty and fellow students I met while in the program. The safety world is surprisingly small, to the point where I often run into someone from grad school when looking for advice or while working. I still reach out to old faculty and alumni every now and then when questions arise because, unlike other professions, no company is competing against each other in safety. Our main goal is to stay safe regardless of who or where we work, and being about to reach out like that has been extremely beneficial.
| Environmental Health and Safety Manager
I became an environmental health science laboratorian and public health professional [with the help of my faculty mentors] in this supportive, encouraging, and rigorous environment. My faculty mentors lived by example, modeling for me the type of researcher and subject matter expert I wanted to be, the standard of integrity in which they conducted the laboratory, and the exploration of sound, valid data production. I learned and understood how our work in the laboratory had valuable applications in the real world and to affected communities.
My fellow grad students were not just classmates but a solid support system throughout my graduate career. Our collective dedication to success, our shared experiences, and our mutual support made my journey truly rewarding. We stood by each other during challenging times, forming study groups and organizing group outings. Our alliance and advocacy for each other created a sense of belonging and teamwork that was invaluable.
| Molecular Surveillance Laboratory Manager
EOHS has had a hugely positive impact on the trajectory of my career. I had a very meandering pathway from undergrad studies to various types of professions before finding my way to occupational and environmental health & safety. My graduate studies have allowed me to advance my career and draw on various skill sets & experiences to pull it all together in a consulting capacity where my work merges Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences, Sustainability, Facility Management, and Technology Development disciplines.
The advice I would offer to new or prospective students is if something interests you, explore it. Ask faculty or your advisor about it, learn more about it from the people who are doing it, and use UIC resources available to you to facilitate that exploration. Network as much as possible, and don’t be afraid to go for something you’re not sure you will be good at. In academia & industry, you never know how a new opportunity may present itself and where it might lead.
| Senior Consultant, Environmental Health Tech
Training Students to Improve Workplace Health
Watch this short video to learn more about how our division prepares EOHS students to protect workers and communities. In it, EOHS spotlights precarious work and its impact on community health.
All of our students who are accepted into the occupational safety and industrial hygiene concentrations, and who meet the requirements for UIC scholarships or traineeships, are automatically considered for funding support. In addition to scholarship and traineeship support, most full-time graduate students in industrial hygiene are eligible to apply for various graduate, teaching, or research assistantships.