What We're Taking Away From Research Day 2023

Our Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center (MAP ERC) and the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health (EOH) at the Colorado School of Public Health recently hosted its 14th Annual Research Day Symposium. The event brought together students from the EOH Department, trainees from the MAP ERC, and local professionals and academics to celebrate transdisciplinary student research in environmental and occupational health.  

This year's event explored solving the vexing problems that face the current and future global workforce.
"As educators and scientists, we are classically trained to address workplace challenges. We use approaches which falsely assume that we can control enough factors in the workplace to prevent all injuries and improve overall health. But there are factors outside of our control that can undermine our efforts to promote safe work," said Lee Newman, MD, MA, center director. "How do we begin to solve these vexing problems? Together."

Each presentation - platform, keynote, and poster - from Research Day explored one facet of the overall vexing problems facing workforce health, safety and well-being. Keynote speaker Rebecca Guerin, PhD, CHES, chief of Social Science and Translation Research Branch, Division of Science Integration at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), brought the perspective and scientific models that NIOSH is using to look at all aspects of the workplace. Trainee platform presentations spanned the topics of workplace aggression, harmful chemicals in museum curation, to hospitalist workload and burnout. Poster presentations represented fascinating topics from each of the MAP ERC's six training programs. Since 2007, the MAP ERC has been funding students and providing expert training to build future leaders that will attempt to solve these complex problems with a transdisciplinary approach.

So what are we taking away from Research Day 2023? Hope. Hope in the future leaders of occupational safety and health who are ready for challenge ahead and are training to face it.

Join us in celebrating our poster and platform presentation winners below. Thank you to our award sponsors: American Industrial Hygiene Association, Central Rocky Mountain Health Physics Society, Society for Occupational Health Psychology, American Society of Safety Professionals - Colorado Chapter, Rocky Mountain Academy of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, EOH Department, The Wireline Group.

Poster Session Award Winners

• Michaella Swinhart, Health Physics, An Investigative Study of Actinide and Non-Actinide Bearing Fuel Salts
• Colton Castro, Industrial Hygiene, Development of a Predictive Model to Quantify Exposure to Amorphous Silica Among Sugarcane Workers
• Tony Zbysinski, Ergonomics and Safety, Ionizing Radiation and Cognitive Mortality Among Department of Energy Cohorts: Potential Risk and Role of Work Design Interventions
• Shelby Davis, Occupational Health Psychology, The Development and Validation of a Code-Switching Scale
• Stephanie Pease, Climate Change, Recommendations for Incorporation of Cumulative Impact Analysis (CIAs) in Colorado Air Quality Policy
• Lindsay Krisher, Total Worker Health®, Individual and Household Determinants of Renal Insufficiency Among Agricultural Workers: A Total Worker Health Approach
• Sarah Hull, Environmental and Occupational Health, Risk Factors for Kidney Injury Among Male and Female Sugarcane Workers in Central America
• Lauren Zell-Baran, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Changes in Lung Function After Deployment to Southwest Asia Among Military Personnel with Respiratory Symptoms

Platform Award Winner

• Jeremy Hua, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Indigenous U.S. Coal Miners Face Increased Odds of Lung Function Impairment