# University of Puerto Rico Caribbean Center for Professional Industrial Hygiene Training

> **NIH ALLCDC T03** · UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES · 2024 · $92,000

## Abstract

Research and Related Other Project Information
Project Summary/Abstract
The Industrial Hygiene Program from the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, is submitting an
application for renewal of the NIOSH Training Grant “University of Puerto Rico – Caribbean Center for
Professional Industrial Hygiene Training.”
The Training Program Grant (TPG) requested proposes, as a main goal, to train approximately 50 students
enrolled in the UPR Master of Science in Industrial Hygiene Program, in the period starting in July of 2024 and
ending in June of 2029. Each appointment will have a duration of 24 months. The UPR Industrial Hygiene
Program curriculum was reviewed and revised in the recent past, to include emergency management,
occupational toxicology, and three 1-credit laboratory courses on occupational sampling, physical risks
evaluation and control, and chemical risks evaluation and control, respectively, resulting in a stronger curriculum
in industrial hygiene, with a total of 51 credits in industrial hygiene courses, combined with 15 credits in core
public health courses. The curriculum proposed culminates with 480 hours of internship, in an occupational
environment, to allow the students to sediment the knowledge acquired during their studies in industrial hygiene.
Recruiting efforts for the IH program have been reviewed, and now are conducted by direct contact with specific
candidates from biology and chemistry, as well as industrial and environmental engineering programs in Puerto
Rico, with the collaboration of students (trainees) who visit the academic institutions where they graduated in
undergraduate programs, to promote an increase in applications to the UPR IH Program, at the same time
promoting inclusion. The response has been very good, although applications for enrollment in higher education
institutions, both public and private, have decreased in the past three years in Puerto Rico. For the current
academic period of 2023/2024, seven students were admitted, short of the program goal of ten admissions per
year. However, the graduation rate is high, usually above 80%. In addition to continuing and enhancing the
efforts reported in this paragraph, the IH program has officially established a part-time curricular sequence that
can be completed in three years, and is attractive to candidates that work full-time, increasing the reach of the
program.
The overall objective of this requested grant is to continue providing Puerto Rico and the continental United
States with highly trained industrial hygienists, proficient in both the Spanish and the English languages. The
graduates of the UPR Industrial Hygiene program are in high demand. As an example, out of nine students who
graduated in June of 2023, eight have reported that are employed as industrial hygienists, one in the United
Staes, and seven in Puerto Rico; one did not respond to our request for information.
The graduate degree in industrial hygiene at UPR does not require a ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10974183
- **Project number:** 2T03OH008619-19
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Aluisio C de Oliveira-Pimenta
- **Activity code:** T03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $92,000
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10974183

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10974183, University of Puerto Rico Caribbean Center for Professional Industrial Hygiene Training (2T03OH008619-19). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10974183. Licensed CC0.

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