The University at Buffalo, SUNY Occupational Safety &Health (OS&H) Training Project provides a unique multidisciplinary education to Master's level graduate students with the goal of strengthening OS&H practice in Western New York. The project provides trainees with a concentration in OS&H while obtaining a graduate degree from the Departments of Industrial &Systems Engineering, Social and Preventive Medicine, Rehabilitation Science, Pharmacology and Toxicology, or Biotechnical and Clinical Laboratory Sciences. Trainees from each department complete the same 3 required core courses in Occupational Safety and Health, Industrial Hygiene, and Epidemiology, and complete 6 additional days of training courses through the University's Atlantic OSHA Training Center within the Toxicology Research Center. Trainees also attend monthly safety seminars, meetings of safety professionals and local safety conferences. Interviews, course grades and career tracking are used to evaluate the project's effectiveness. In its first two years, the University at Buffalo, SUNY OS&H Training Project has been extremely productive. Key accomplishments include: 1) participation of 14 graduate trainees, 4 of whom were from traditionally under-represented groups, 2) placement of 2 funded trainees in OS&H professions, with others actively pursuing OS&H related responsibilities, 3) establishment of active ties with safety professionals, 4) creation of a new industrial hygiene course that emphasizes application of course materials through field work, 5) completion of over 30 OS&H professional development activities, 6) establishment of a """"""""UB Learns"""""""" internal website for communication among trainees and faculty, and 7) creation of a tri-fold brochure and website to assist trainee recruitment.
