Applicable only to students admitted during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Environmental Health Sciences

Fielding School of Public Health

Graduate Degrees

The Fielding School of Public Health offers a school-wide Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) degree in Environmental Health Sciences and an articulated degree program with Medicine as well as concurrent degree programs with Law and Urban Planning.

For information on the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Health Sciences, applicants should see the listings for the department.

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

Upon entering the program, students are assigned a faculty adviser whose responsibility is to counsel students concerning program of study and progress toward the fulfillment of degree requirements.  Students may request a change in faculty advisers at any time during the course of study by submitting a request directly to the department.  Students are expected to meet with assigned faculty advisers each quarter.

Foreign Language Requirement

None

Course Requirements

The M.P.H. requires Public Health 200A, 200B, and 401 (20 units). Students may also satisfy Public Health 401 with a School-approved alternative course in consultation with the Associate Dean of Public Health Practice.

The Environmental Health Sciences concentration (48 units) requires Biostatistics 100B, Environmental Health Sciences C200A, C200C, 200D, C240, C257, 400, 411 (taken twice), and 14 units of upper division (100 series) or graduate level (200 series) coursework selected in consultation with the faculty advisor. Students must also successfully pass a chemistry examination consisting of 30 multiple choice questions gauging basic chemistry knowledge and computational skills. Students who do not pass the exam are required to take an additional three-unit course (Environmental Health Sciences 101).

Students interested in Industrial Hygiene may choose to complete an additional 11-12 courses (42-46 units) that prepare them to enter the workforce and may assist in becoming a Certified Industrial Hygienists (see http://abih.org/). These additional courses allow industrial hygiene students to receive additional training on occupational exposure to chemicals; physical, biological, and mechanical agents; psychosocial factors, and ergonomic factors. Identification/recognition/anticipation, evaluation, control and prevention of hazards and risks are primary goals. Required courses include Environmental Health Sciences 230A, 230B, 230C, 252D, 252E, 253, 255, 259A, 259B, and 454. Environmental Health Sciences 252G is required if no field sampling has been done by Spring quarter of 2nd year. An additional four-unit course must be taken in consultation with the faculty advisor. U.S. citizens (or Green Card holders) applicants may qualify for fees and stipend support from the NIOSH Southern California Education and Research Center (http://erc.ucla.edu/industrial-hygiene/). Please contact the IH Director, Professor Shane Que Hee at squehee@ucla.edu with questions.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Field training in an approved setting is required of all MPH degree candidates. Typically, full-time field training is completed during the summer between the first and second year of enrollment. Students must be in good academic standing with a grade point average of 3.0 or better before beginning the field experience.

Capstone Plan

The aim of the capstone is to assess each student’s ability to select theories, methods, and techniques from across the content matter of a field, integrate and synthesize knowledge, and apply it to the solution of public health problems. The requirement is fulfilled by completing a project or exam that is specifically designed for the concentration. Students must be in good academic standing, with a grade point average of 3.0 or better, before undertaking the completion of the capstone requirement.

The MPH in Environmental Health Sciences requires a written Capstone Project and must be satisfactorily completed by the last term of enrollment. The topic of the Capstone Project will be determined by the student in consultation with their Faculty Adviser. For Capstone Project guidelines, please consult the department for more information.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

From graduate admission to award of the degree, normal progress is six quarters of enrollment. Maximum time allowable from enrollment to graduation, including leaves of absence, is five years (15 quarters).

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing the academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.