The summer cohort application deadline is May 18, 2025
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Environmental Health and Engineering

The Impact of Our Environment on Human Health

Everything around us impacts our health – from the air we breathe, to the water we drink, the food we eat, the products we use, and the neighborhoods in which we live. This course covers topics ranging from ecological services to pollution (sources, transport & fate), toxicology to epidemiology, the built environment to climate change. Students may explore one of the many relationships between our environment and human health.

This Seminar program is conducted by Megan Lathshaw, PhD, Director of the Master’s degree programs in the Department of Environmental Health & Engineering and co-director for the Education Program of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health.

Pre-approved Topic List

  1. Microplastics have now been found in human brains. What types of toxicology studies have been done to investigate the potential impact on our health? What types of studies should be done?
  2. One of the challenges in environmental epidemiology is the difficulty controlling for so many confounders. Can machine learning and big data be used to improve these methods?
  3. Can systems dynamics modeling be used to understand what it would take for people to shift from using cars to more active transportation?
  4. Can sustainable practices be successfully incorporated into current business models? If not, what might need to change in order to create a better fit?
  5. Are United Nations treaties and resolutions an effective means to pass worldwide sustainability measures or is a different system necessary?
  6. Some cities are incorporating planetary health into their planning. What does this mean and what are the advantages and disadvantages of such an urban design? Illustrate your response with examples.
  7. Aquaculture, or fish farming, is increasingly providing a major source of food for a growing world population. What forms of aquaculture are most sustainable, and which forms are the least sustainable? Why? Provide specific examples of aquaculture in your analysis.
  8. Choose an environmental justice issue in your own neighborhood. What types of measures (collecting data, policy changes, etc.) could help improve health by addressing it?