DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Texas-Utah Consortium for Hazardous Waste Worker Education and Training (The Consortium) leverages two large, established education and research centers, both funded in part by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, with a diverse and experienced collection of partners to develop and deliver a full spectrum of high quality education, research and training. The Consortium's primary purpose is to positively and meaningfully impact the health of our communities by providing practical hands-on health and safety training to workers (1) in facilities that generate, label, treat, store load, transport, receive, unload and dispose of hazardous materials; (2) who prepare for and conduct emergency response activities, including clean up and remediation of hazardous material spills; (3) in laboratories that receive samples of potentially hazardous materials, including potentially contaminated environmental samples; and (4) with the responsibility to prevent, deter or respond to large scale intentional or natural disasters. We place special emphasis on training returning veterans and members of underserved minorities, including African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders and we take great pride in utilizing modern and innovative adult teaching techniques. Our long-term objectives are to prepare workers and communities to protect themselves, their colleagues and their environment from exposures to potentially harmful hazardous materials using sound scientific methods and to promote the health, resiliency and financial stability in populations that are most vulnerable t disasters. Geographically, our activities will focus on Public Health Regions 6 and 8, with training delivery in other regions as requested.