Multiple PhD students from the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health were recognized for their achievements at this summer’s American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition in Phoenix.

Mingze Zhu earned first place student poster awards from both the AIHA Protective Clothing and Equipment Committee and the IHA Biological Monitoring Committee. Zhu’s project, “The Effects of Residual Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons on the Hematological Profile of Firefighters,” was mentored by Dr. Jooyeon Hwang, formerly Associate Professor of OEH at HCOPH and now on the faculty of The University of Texas Health Sciences Center. The poster was co-authored by Dr. Robert Agnew, Associate Professor of Fire Protection & Safety Engineering Technology at Oklahoma State University, an alumni of the OEH M.S. program.

In addition, Zhu was awarded two scholarships, including the AIHF Amazon “Invest and Simplify” Scholarship.

Toluwanimi Oni and David Bolade also earned the AIHF Amazon “Invest and Simplify” Scholarship, a nationally competitive scholarship sponsored by the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation.

Peter Kim gave a student oral presentation, entitled “Reduction of Clostridioides Difficile Spores Using Titanium Nanocomposite.” He was also recognized for co-authoring the winning paper of the AIHA Lila Albin Award, an honor given to the best paper from the AIHA Indoor Environmental Quality Committee. The paper, entitled “Reducing the Particles Generated by Flushing Institutional Toilets,” was mentored by Dr. Changjie Cai, an Assistant Professor of OEH at HCOPH.

Please join us in congratulating our HCOPH students, faculty, and alumni for their successes!