The projects will change from year to year, but this will give you an idea of the varied types of potential projects you could participate in. The projects are presented according to National Center for Environmental Health /Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) Division and/or Office.
- Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services — DEEHS
- Division of Regional Operations – DRO
- Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects – DEHHE
- Office of Communications – OC
- Division of Health Assessment and Consultation – DHAC
- Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation – OPPE
- Division of Health Studies – DHS
- Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine & Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response – DTEM/OTPER
Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services — DEEHS
Project: Research on Safety and Health in Manufactured Homes
Two interns participated in this project to help create a number of chapters for a white paper on health issues in manufactured homes. These chapters included information on mold and moisture, community settings, and emerging technologies. Both interns worked on the same project simultaneously, and attended a stakeholders meeting to present their findings after the internship ended.
Project: Connecting with Partners: A Land-use Agency Considers Health Impact Assessment
The intern helped conduct a Rapid Health Impact Assessment (HIA) of Georgia’s newly adopted Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), 2008-2013. The intern started conducting the rapid HIA, learned all the processes, and conducted the background research. The SCORP, however, did not pass the screening phase (1st phase) of an HIA so the HIA was not pursued further. The intern then put together a fact sheet for land use agencies on different approaches (HIA, evaluation) to looking at their programs.
Project: Assessment of the Effectiveness of Legislation for Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems in the United States
The intern determined if there is a correlation between existing state-on-site wastewater disposal regulations and septic tank system malfunctions reported in the publication, A Summary of the Status of Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems in the United States During 1998 by the National Environmental Services Center.
Division of Regional Operations – DRO
Project: Brownfields Tool Kit Development
The intern assisted in the development of tools for Brownfields Investigations and reviewed progress at ATSDR’s Brownfield sites. The intern tested and validated tools that aided in the evaluation.
Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects – DEHHE
Project: Climate Change and Public Health
The intern provided literature scans and reviews assisting in the development of a journal article that addresses vulnerable populations and climate change. The intern also conducted research on heat waves and compiled this information along with other climate change related information into a Climate Change Speakers’ Resource Library.
Office of Communications – OC
Project: The Internet as a Communication Channel for Climate Change Information
The intern assisted with developing a presentation on an environmental health Web game based on climate change and assisted with adding more information to the climate change Web site. The intern also restructured and reformatted some of the information on the climate change website in order to make it more readable and usable for the public.
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation – DHAC
Project: Analysis of ATSDR’s Petitioned Public Health Assessment Response History
The intern analyzed the results of previous petition requests to address the questions: 1) How has ATSDR been most helpful to petitioner requests in the last few years and 2) How can ATSDR be a more helpful resource to communities with concerns about exposure to environmental contaminants released at a neighboring hazardous waste site? The intern also developed conclusions and recommendations based on the analysis regarding Petition Program policy modifications, in order to improve the efficacy of responses to future petition requests.
Project: ATSDR/NCEH Grant and Cooperative Agreement Cross-linking Project
The intern reviewed all current (Environmental Health) grants, cooperative agreements, and all other funding mechanisms available from NCEH and ATSDR that are awarded to external partners. The intern also helped develop a report on possible areas of collaboration among the different funding mechanisms. The intern conducted interviews, compiled data, and developed a final report of background on the programs and recommendations for collaboration.
Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation – OPPE
Project: Environmental Health Policy and ATSDR History
The intern researched the history of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from its beginning to its present day relationship with the National Center for Environmental Health. As part of this, the intern assisted in the development of a research paper detailing the origins of ATSDR, provided literature reviews, retrieved critical archival resources and references, performed historical reviews, and reviewed literature which contrasts public expectations about environmental sources of exposure to toxic chemicals with available scientific information.
Division of Health Studies – DHS
Project: National Hazardous Substances Incident Surveillance
The intern helped to revise the Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) program by setting up stakeholders meetings, reporting on outcomes of meetings, and attending related work group meetings.
Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine & Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response – DTEM/OTPER
Project: Autism Spectrum Disorder: High-throughput Screening for Potential Candidate Genes and Etiologic Hazardous Agents of Environmental Origin.
The intern evaluated candidate genes and their interaction with potential environmental factors, in order to find a potential cause of autistic spectrum disorder or other neurological diseases that are the result of gene-environment interactions. The intern also used rapid-screening computational toxicology methodology, which can be applied to large numbers of environmental pollutants (ligands) in order to develop a known or suspected biological target for autism.
This page last updated on November 24, 2008
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