Course Descriptions


HSC 537: Environmental Health & Management

Environmental Health investigates health issues, scientific understanding of causes & effect, and possible future strategies and approaches to control of the major environmental health problems . Topics include how the human body reacts and counter acts to environmental pollutants; physical, chemical, and biological agents of environmental contamination; vectors for dissemination (air, water, soil); solid and hazardous waste; susceptible populations; biomarkers and risk analysis; the scientific basis for policy decisions; and emerging global environmental health problems.
After completion of this course, course participants will be able to:
  • Describe and define the major sources and types of environmental agents.
  • Describe the transport and fate of these agents in the environment.
  • Identify the carriers or vectors that promote the transfer of these agents from the environment to the human body.
  • Describe how these agents interact with biological systems, and the mechanisms by which they exert adverse health effects.
  • Explain prediction of the magnitude of adverse effects in biological systems.
  • Identify and define the steps in the risk-assessment and risk-management processes.
  • Describe the steps in the regulatory process in terms of risk assessment and risk management.
  • Identify significant gaps in the current knowledge base concerning the health effects of environmental agents and identify areas of uncertainty in the risk-assessment process.
  1. It is the student’s responsibility to gather information about the assignments and covered topics during the lectures missed. Regular class attendance is mandatory. Points will be taken off for missing classes. Without 70% of attendance, sitting for final exam is NOT allowed. According to IUB system students must enter the classroom within the first 20 minutes to get the attendance submitted.
  2. The date and syllabus of quiz, midterm and final exam is already given here, however, announcements will be given ahead of time. There is NO provision for make-up quizzes.
  3. The reading materials for each class will be given prior to that class so that student may have a cursory look into the materials.
  4. Class participation is vital for better understanding of sociological issues. Students are invited to raise questions.
  5. Students should take tutorials with the instructor during the office hours. Prior appointment is required.
  6. Students must maintain the IUB code of conduct and ethical guidelines offered by the school of liberal arts and sciences.
The course will be based mostly on the following books [some other books and journals may be referred time to time]:
  1. A Prüss-Ustün, J Wolf, C Corvalán, R Bos and M Neiras (2016). Preventing disease through healthy environments, A global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks, WHO.
  2. Blumenthal, D. S., and Ruttenber, A. J. (1995). Introduction to environmental health. Second Edition. New York: Springer.
  3. Lippmann, M. (Ed.). (1992). Environmental toxicants: Human exposures and their health effects. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
  4. Moeller, D. W. (1997). Environmental health (Revised ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Students will be assessed on the basis of their overall performance in all the exams, quizzes, and class participation. Final numeric reward will be the compilation of:
• Written class exam : 20%
• Assignment : 20%
• Final Presentation and viva(final exam): 20%
• Midterm Exam : 20%
• Class attendance, participation and course engagement : 20%
[Class attendance is mandatory; failure to do so may deduct the final marks]
The following chart will be followed for grading. This has been customized from the guideline provided by the School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.
A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F
90-100 85-89 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 0-44
* Numbers are inclusive
Students who are willing to audit the course are welcome during the first two classes and are advised to contact the instructor after that.
Plagiarism – that is, the presentation of another person’s thoughts or words as though they were the student’s own – must be strictly avoided. Cheating and plagiarism on exam and assignments are unacceptable.
Please see the Green Book for further information about academic regulation and policies, including withdrawal and grading, appeals and penalties for plagiarism and academic misconduct.
Students with disabilities are required to inform the Department of Law of any specific requirement for classes or examination as soon as possible.
Awarding of Incomplete or ‘I’ grades should be strongly discouraged. ‘I’ will only be allowed for students who have a valid reason (ascertained by the senior management). In situations where the student is unable to complete the course due to unanticipated illness or family emergency and has not attended at least 75% of the classes held, he / she will be asked to withdraw from that course and repeat it. In unavoidable circumstances where students have completed 75% of the classes but are unable to continue (due to illness or family emergency), incomplete grade of ‘I’ may be granted. Incomplete course has to be completed by the end of the next semester, otherwise grade ‘I’ automatically becomes grade ‘F’. The student is not required to register for the course in the next semester.
A ‘W’ grade means withdrawal. A student may decide to withdraw from a course by the deadline. Students must apply to the Program Office for withdrawal from a course with the permission of the concerned course instructor, Academic Advisor, and the Dean. Withdrawal from only one course in a semester is allowed but the students should provide valid reason along with documents while applying for the withdrawal.
A student can misses a maximum of 8 classes for a particular course. After that the course will be automatically withdrawn. A student automatically withdrawn from a course will NOT be allowed to UNDO it under any circumstances.
Change of grade is strongly discouraged. However, an instructor may request a change of grade when a computational or procedural error occurred in the original assignment of a grade. Instructor must submit the ‘Grade Change Form’ to the respective program office within one month of submitting the final grade rolls. A Grade change has to be requested within 1 month of the day of publishing the grades.