
About the Center
The University of Michigan Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering (COHSE) is a NIOSH Education and Research Center (ERC). Since inception in 1982, COHSE has supported comprehensive graduate-level educational programs to aspiring practitioners and researchers in Industrial Hygiene (IH), Occupational Health Nursing (OHN), Occupational Safety Engineering and Ergonomics (OSE), and Occupational Epidemiology (OE) to help meet the nation’s needs for qualified practitioners and researchers. Our academic programs are complemented with our highly effective Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) program, and Continuing Education (CE) courses. Our success as a center of excellence is predicated on:
- An outstanding and dedicated faculty
- Interdisciplinary curricula that prepare our graduates for modern practice
- Vibrant extramurally funded research programs in many National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA)-related areas that train next-generation research leaders
- Multifaceted outreach and CE programs that meet the needs of professionals in our region and beyond
- Strong institutional support
- Active and engaged alumni, many of whom are leaders in their fields
The US workforce carries a disproportionate burden of preventable job-related morbidity and mortality. By training high-quality practitioners and researchers, COHSE helps to meet critical shortfalls in health and safety services in most small and many larger workplaces, and thereby reduces the incidence and severity of occupational injury and illness.
Student Funding:
-
- The Center for Occupational Health and Safety Engineering receives student funding support from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. All students who are U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents and are admitted to a graduate degree program in Industrial Hygiene, Occupational Epidemiology, Occupational Health Nursing and Occupational Safety Engineering are automatically considered for funding. Funding may include partial to full tuition award, travel and a monthly stipend. No additional application is necessary.
- We offer the following types of funding:
- Traineeships include partial or full tuition support and may also include a modest stipend for University of Michigan (UM) graduate students.
- Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) for both UM and non-UM researchers.
Our program directors are supported by:
- COHSE Faculty
- External Advisory Board (EAB) of experts who have years of experience with occupational health and safety issues.
We are a NIOSH TWH affiliate:
Although not currently offering a degree or certificate program in Total Worker Health (TWH), several venues provide our students with exposure to and instruction in TWH such as our Occupational Health Seminar Series, the curriculum of our Occupational Health Nursing program and research carried out by COHSE faculty alongside masters and doctoral students.
Learn more about the NIOSH Total Worker Health Affiliate Program
We offer programs in:
We offer the following yearly events:
- COHSE Research Symposium
- Occupational Health Speaker Series
- Detroit Environmental Tour: A Tour of Toxic Sites in Detroit
- Ford Rouge Factory Tour
- Michigan Safety Conference
The Directors of the Center Programs are:

Stuart Batterman
COHSE Director

Occupational Safety
Engineering
and Ergonomics (OSE)
Director

Clive D’Souza
Occupational Safety
Engineering
and Ergonomics (OSE)
Associate Director

Christopher Friese
Occupational Health
Nursing (OHN)
Associate Director

Marjorie McCullagh
Occupational Health
Nursing (OHN)
Director

Marie O’Neill
Occupational
Epidemiology (OE)
Director

Sung Kyun Park
Occupational
Epidemiology (OE)
Associate Director

Edward Zellers
Industrial Hygiene
(IH) Director

Richard Neitzel
COHSE Deputy Director,
IH Assoc. Director

Sheryl Ulin
Continuing Education
and Outreach Director

Adam Finkel
Pilot Project Research Training (PPRT) Director