Grant to expand graduate training in construction occupational safety and health

15 Feb 2013

Deborah Young-Corbett and Maury Nussbaum — Deborah Young-Corbett (left) and Maury Nussbaum.

Virginia Tech's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering has received a five-year $470,703 grant from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to expand its graduate education to address construction-related occupational safety and health.

The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Center for Innovation in Construction Safety and Health, now a part of the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, have engaged in occupational safety and health research and education for the past 35 years, and have been supported by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to provide graduate training in safety and ergonomics since 1992.

This new award will support the program's expansion into providing additional focused education and training for those seeking careers in occupational safety and health within the construction sector.

Specifically, the educational program provides coursework and practicum experiences in the subjects of occupational safety, industrial hygiene, system safety, prevention through design, and ergonomics, available to graduate students entering this specialty track within the human factors engineering graduate program at Virginia Tech. The NIOSH grant provides funding for selected students.

Supporting this program is the Center for Innovation in Construction Safety and Health, a multi-disciplinary research center involving departments from Virginia Tech's colleges of Engineering, Architecture and Urban Studies, and Natural Resources and Environment. The center is devoted to improving working conditions within the construction sector.

Faculty from the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering partnered with faculty from the Myers-Lawson School of Construction to develop this new graduate education opportunity. The principal faculty members leading the new initiative are Maury Nussbaum, Industrial and Systems Engineering; and Deborah Young-Corbett, Myers-Lawson School of Construction.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.