In his first week on the job, President Joe Biden signed several climate-related executive orders, including rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, halting the construction of the Keystone pipeline and aggressively expanding and investing in efforts to fight environmental racism in disadvantaged communities that have suffered the most from pollution.

Shifali Mathews was part of the first class of students in the accelerated BS/MPH program. She completed her bachelor's in public health science in 2020 and earned her MPH in environmental health sciences in 2021. She is conducting climate change and health research with Dr. Amir Sapkota.

In 2020, Richard Remigio successfully submitted and was awarded an R36 Dissertation grant. He defended his dissertation proposal and presented two abstracts at the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) virtual conference. Remigio is working on his dissertation and is about ready to defend it.

After successfully defending her dissertation in December 2018, Rianna Murray began working at the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health (MIAEH) with Dr. Amy Sapkota as a Postdoctoral Associate in February 2019. Murray’s primary role in this position was Program Manager of the UMD Global STEWARDS (STEM Training at the Nexus of Energy, WAter Reuse and FooD Systems) graduate training fellowship, funded by the National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program, which prepares future leaders focused on innovations at the nexus of food, energy and water (FEW) systems.

The university celebrated the accomplishments of our graduates in a virtual commencement ceremony on Sunday, December 20. The main ceremony can be viewed on the UMD Facebook and YouTube channels. Graduates are encouraged to share their photos and memories on social media using #UMDgrad. SPH graduates should also use #publichealthTerps and tag @UMDPublicHealth. See Public Health Terps' photos and reflections and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram!

This week, the University of Maryland School of Public Health virtually inducted 21 members into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health. Inductees included students, faculty, alumni and this year's honorary inductee, Maryland Senator Brian Feldman, who represents District 15 in Montgomery County.

Over four weeks this fall, the School of Public Health’s Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) lab hosted the sixth annual Environmental Justice and Health Disparities Symposium. The free event was virtual this year due to Covid-19. 

There were nearly 1,000 registrants from at least 45 states and six countries. 

The event spanned four Saturdays and included speakers from community organizations, environmental justice advocacy groups, researchers, scholars, legal professionals, elected officials and more. 

Richard Remigio, a PhD candidate in Environmental Health Sciences, has received the NIH R36 Dissertation Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for his research on the climate effects on health care delivery for medically-vulnerable populations.

Importance of moving activities outdoors and ensuring proper ventilation indoors stressed, as experts urge science community to clarify definitions

On Monday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extracted updated language published just days earlier about how Covid-19 spreads airborne and defaulted to its previous guidance about Covid-19 transmission, CNN reported.

"A draft version of proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency's official website,” said Jason McDonald, a CDC spokesman.