USU Industrial Hygiene Student Group Receives 2019 Top National Honor

Utah State University’s Student Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association was named 2018-19 Student Local Section of the Year at an awards ceremony during the organization’s 2019 annual conference and exposition held recently in Minneapolis.

“USU’s Department of Biology takes great pride in our ABET-accredited undergraduate program in industrial hygiene,” says Diane Alston, Biology department head. “We celebrate the success of our AIHA student section, and we congratulate both our students and our dedicated public health faculty.”

USU’s student section competed with undergraduate and graduate industrial hygiene groups from throughout the nation for the award, which includes a $1,000 cash award to the chapter. Fifty USU students are currently registered as public health majors with the industrial hygiene emphasis.

“The students are very deserving of this award,” says Carl Farley, senior lecturer in USU’s Department of Biology and advisor of USU’s Public Health programs in industrial hygiene, public health education and environmental health. “This honor recognizes many hours of community outreach and extracurricular efforts in developing professional skills.”

In addition to the local section’s national award, undergraduates Mikayla Austin and Ty Mangum were recognized at the state level, by Utah’s AIHA Section, for outstanding academic and service performance.

USU’s industrial hygiene program is one of only four undergraduate programs in the nation accredited by the Applied Science Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology. Requirements of the degree program include coursework in industrial hygiene-specific disciplines, biology, chemistry, epidemiology, toxicology and environmental engineering, as well as a professional internship; all of which prepare graduates to pursue professional certification.