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Membership

Faculty Members
Student Affiliates
Associate Members

Center Staff

Director

maynard Andrew D. Maynard, Ph.D.

Prof. Maynard is a leading authority on the responsible development and use of emerging technologies. His research interests span identifying, assessing and managing emergent risks, to exploring innovative solutions to established and emerging human health and environmental risks, to equipping people with the tools they need to make informed decisions in the face of risk and uncertainty. Prof. Maynard is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Emerging Technologies, serves on numerous review and advisory panels around the world, and has testified on a number of occasions before U.S. Congressional committees. He appears frequently in print and on television and radio, and writes regularly on science and society at http://2020science.org/

Managing Director

Tracy Swinburn, MSc.

Tracy develops the core program of the Risk Science Center and works with faculty to build the center's impact and reach, as well as contributing as a research economist. Her research includes cost benefit assessments of transport improvements, developing methods for valuing hard-to-quantify elements in cost benefit assessment, and evaluating the impacts of the Olympics on host cities. Tracy holds degrees from Rhodes College and the London School of Economics and held prior posts at think tanks (Brookings and the Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK) and in consultancy.

Areas of interest: Cost benefit assessment and methods, valuing hard-to-quanitfy impacts, transport and public health, measuring 'Quality of Place' impacts

Faculty Members

Nil Basu Niladri Basu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences

Prof. Basu is an environmental toxicologist interested in the risk assessment of aquatic pollutants, development of neurochemical biomarkers, and the use of fish and wildlife as sentinels of human and environmental health hazards. Prof. Basu's research uses basic, applied, and innovative methods to evaluate ecosystem health. His current activities focus on: 1) the development, application, and validation of neurochemical biomarkers to assess sub-clinical, neurotoxic damage in wildlife and humans; 2) using fish and wildlife as sentinel organisms to study the etiology of diseases relevant to humans and ecosystems.

Areas of Interest: Ecotoxicology, ecological risk assessment, biomarkers, gene-environment interactions and global health.

bingham C. Raymond Bingham, Ph.D.
Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan School of Medicine
Research Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health

Dr. C. Raymond Bingham is a research professor at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his doctorate in human development from Penn State University, and his research interests are in unintentional injury prevention, with a focus on young drivers, alcohol use, and program development and evaluation. Dr. Bingham has lead research funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Safety Council, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Michigan state agencies, and private corporations. Dr. Bingham is currently a member and secretary of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Young Drivers and a member of the Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Transportation. He currently serves on the Michigan Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, Sub-Committee for Novice Teen Drivers, and the University of Michigan Injury Center Internal Advisory Committee, the University of Michigan Health Sciences Health Behavior Institutional Review Board, and various other University of Michigan committees.

Areas of Interest: Young drivers, prevention of injury related to motor vehicles and alcohol.

gregbond Greg Bond, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Corporate Director of EH&S and Sustainability
The Dow Chemical Company

Greg Bond is currently a loaned executive from Dow to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor working with the Graham Sustainability Institute. Trained at the U-M as an occupational and environment epidemiologist, Greg is a recognized global leader in chemical risk assessment and management having authored and presented numerous publications and papers and advised dozens of government agencies around the world. Prior to assuming his current role in July 2012, for more than 15 years he led Dow’s global product safety organization, including the toxicology and environment fate laboratories. From March, 2006 until December 1, 2008, Greg held the additional role of Asia Pacific EH&S Director and was based in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China.

In addition to his current responsibilities at the U-M, Greg is currently co-chairing the International Council of Chemical Association’s Chemicals Policy and Health Leadership Group which is working to improve the product safety performance of the global chemical industry and strengthen science and risk-based chemicals management legislation and regulation throughout the world.

Areas of interest: Occupational and environmental epidemiology, chemical risk assessment and management, risk communication and inter-disciplinary approaches to sustainability challenges.

bowman Diana Bowman, LLB, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Risk Science Center and the Department of Health Management and Policy
International Visiting Professor, Department of Governance and Regulation, University of Twente

Dr. Bowman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management Policy, School of Public Health, at the University of Michigan and a visiting international scholar in the Faculty of Law, KU Leuven (Belgium). In addition to these roles Diana serves as a member on the Australian Government’s National Enabling Technologies Strategy Expert Forum.

Diana’s research has focused primarily on legal, regulatory and public health policy issues relating to new technologies, in particular nanotechnologies. Diana is the co-editor of several books including New Global Frontiers in Regulation: The Age of Nanotechnology (2007, with Hodge and Ludlow) and Nanotechnology Risk Management: Perspectives and Progress (2010, with Hull) and the International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies (2010, with Hodge and Maynard).

Diana has qualifications in science and law (Monash University, 2003), a PhD in Law (2007), and is admitted to practice as an Australian Lawyer.

Areas of Interest: Regulatory and legal aspects of risk science (i.e., how to regulate nanotechnologies and other emerging technologies), using risk science to improve population health, and risk and road safety.

Alfred Franzblau, M.D.
Associate Dean for Research, School of Public Health
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine
Associate Research Scientist, Center for Ergonomics

Dr. Franzblau graduated from the University of California School of Medicine in San Diego, completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, and had advanced training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1989. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Preventive/Occupational Medicine, and he is a certified B reader. His professional activities include teaching, research, and the clinical practice of occupational and environmental medicine. Research interests include work-related musculoskeletal disorders (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and osteoarthritis), chemical exposures (e.g., dioxins and metals in the environment), and occupational and environmental lung disease (e.g., pneumoconioses, asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis). From 2003-2006 he co-chaired the Health IRB at the University of Michigan, and from 2001-2009 he served as a scientific advisor to the UAW-GM National Joint Committee for Health and Safety. He is a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Exposure and Human Health Committee, and he has served as a reviewer for numerous journals, government agencies and the Institute of Medicine. He was recently appointed as Associate Dean for Research of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and he also holds academic appointments at the University of Michigan Medical School and College of Engineering.

Areas of Interest: Musculoskeletal disorders, biological monitoring of chemical exposures, occupational neurological disease, occupational respiratory disease and environmental exposure assessment for dioxins and other persistent environmental chemicals.

Peter Jacobson, J.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy

Prof. Jacobson’s current research interests focus on the relationship between law and health care delivery and policy, law and public health systems, and health care safety net services. Currently, he is working on projects involving public health ethics, fraud and abuse, and health care governance. Prof. Jacobson recently worked with the RAND Corporation on a project examining how the organization of public health systems affects preparedness efforts. He is the principal investigator on a project examining how communities in Michigan organize to provide mental health and diabetes care to uninsured populations.

Areas of Interest: Regulatory and legal aspects of risk science (i.e., how to regulate nanotechnology and similar processes), using risk science to improve population health, and establishing closer ties between the Risk Science Center and the Center for Law, Ethics, and Health.

jolliet Olivier Jolliet, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences

Prof. Jolliet's research and teaching programs aim to provide the scientific knowledge for assessing environmental risks and impacts of chemicals, in order to develop a flexible risk assessment framework, to model population-based exposure and intake fractions for outdoor and indoor chemical emissions in a consistent way, and to assess the life cycle risks, impacts and benefits related to new technologies and materials in order to prevent emissions and guide the development of these technologies.

Areas of Interest: Risk assessment of emerging technologies (e.g., nano, pharmaceutical released in the environment, build-up of environmental antibiotic resistance)

Patricia Koman
Senior Project Manager, Environmental Health Sciences

Trish Koman brings extensive experience from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to her research and teaching. While at EPA, she was the principal author of landmark national air pollution standards for particulate matter, established a program to reduce diesel emissions from marine ports, and managed multi-disciplinary benefit-cost analyses, regulatory programs, and technological innovation initiatives.

Areas of Interest: Policy analysis, health and environmental effects of air pollution and climate change, diesel exposure, environmental justice, sustainability, benefit-cost analysis, and risk communication.

David Mendez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy

David Mendez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. His research is in the areas of smoking control, product and service quality on demand, and policies regarding residential radon. Professor Mendez is the faculty lead for instructional technology in the School of Public Health, and recently he has worked on developing a model for distance education for the School's Executive Master's program.

Areas of Interest: Developing mathematical/computer models to help policy makers explore solutions to public health problem, developing models for tobacco control, radon control and HPV vaccination.

meza Rafael Meza, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology

Dr. Meza is assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He received his BSc in applied mathematics from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), and his PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Washington.

Dr. Meza's research interests lie at the interface of epidemiology, biostatistics and biomathematics. He is interested in cancer risk assessment and the analysis of cancer epidemiology data using mechanistic models of carcinogenesis. He is also interested in the mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics and its applications in public health policy design. Dr. Meza is a member of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) lung and esophagus groups, and a core member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMCCC).

Areas of Interest: Cancer risk assessment, multistage carcinogenesis models, smoking and lung cancer risk, colon cancer epidemiology, public health policy modeling, mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics, contact network epidemiology, cancers with infectious disease etiology.

Masako Morishita, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Scientist, Environmental Health Sciences

Dr. Morishita's research areas include investigation of air pollution health effects, with particular emphasis on source-exposure-dose pathways of air toxics, trace metals and nanoparticles. She is also engaged in developing a multidisciplinary network and collaboration opportunities focusing on nanomaterial/nanotechnology health effects.

Areas of Interest: Air pollution exposure assessment, sources of trace metals and air toxics, and nanoparticle characterization.

neitzel Rick L Neitzel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Risk Science Center and Environmental Health Sciences

Rick has been an Assistant Professor in the Risk Science Center within the University of Michigan's Department of Environmental Health Sciences since September 2011. He received a PhD in Environmental and Occupational Hygiene from the University of Washington in 2009, and has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2003. He has been conducting research on noise and related health effects since 1997. His current research interests include quantitative and subjective exposure assessment in occupational and non-occupational settings, development of effective occupational health and safety interventions and controls, and incorporation of new and emerging technologies into exposure assessment and risk science. He has a particular interest in exposure issues in the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries.

Areas of Interest: Exposure assessment, injury prevention, noise and safety and emerging technologies.

Jerome Nriagu, Ph.D., DSc
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Research Scientist, Center for Human Growth and Development

Prof. Nriagu's research and teaching programs center around three main issues: (i) sources, behavior, fate and effects of metals in the natural and contaminated environments; (ii) environmental justice and disproportionate exposure of communities to environmental pollutants; and (iii) environmental health problems in the developing countries. His work includes applied laboratory and field studies and has led to 28 books (authored/edited) and over 250 published articles.

Areas of Interest: Environmental chemistry, global health (such as environmental risk factors for malaria), hazards in the home environment (healthy homes), disproportionate exposure and environmental justice, arsenic exposure and poisoning as a global issues.

oneill Mary O'Neill, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Associate Professor, Epidemiology

Marie O'Neill has worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Pan American Health Organization, in Mexico at the National Institute of Public Health and the National Center for Environmental Health as a Fulbright Scholar, and as a Research Fellow in Environmental Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at University of Michigan from 2004 to 2006.

Areas of Interest: Health effects of air pollution, temperature extremes and climate change (mortality, asthma, hospital admissions, and cardiovascular endpoints); environmental exposure assessment; and socio-economic influences on health.

shobita Shobita Parthasarathy, Ph.D.
Associate Professor at the Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Shobita Parthasarathy is Associate Professor at the Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. She holds a BA (Biology) from the University of Chicago, and Masters and PhD degrees (Science and Technology Studies) from Cornell University. Her research focuses on the governance of emerging science and technology, with a focus on areas that have uncertain ethical, social, environmental, health, legal, and political implications. She is the author of numerous articles and a book entitled, Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology, and the Comparative Politics of Health Care (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007). She is working on her second book, which explores the politics of biotechnology patents in the United States and Europe.

Areas of Interest: Genetics, Biotechnology, ethics, governance and regulation, intellectual property, science and technology policy, democracy and public participation, expertise.

Dr. Martin Philbert Martin Philbert, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Public Health
Professor of Toxicology

Prof. Philbert’s research activities include experimental neuropathology, nitrocompound-induced encephalopathies, mitochondrial mechanisms in non-neuronal cell death, and development of Nano-Optical Chemical Systems for in vivo physiology. He is engaged in the development of optical nanosensors for intracellular applications in in vitro toxicology and dynamic nanoplatforms for the early detection and treatment of brain cancers. His research group is among the first to perform toxicology tests on polymeric nanoparticles for a variety of applications.

Areas of Interest: Nanoscience research and development, risk science for sophisticated regulatory science.

Lisa A. Prosser, Ph.D., M.S.
Associate Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases

Prof. Prosser is a decision scientist whose research uses decision analysis and modeling methods to inform key questions relating to public health policy. Her research evaluating national vaccination and prevention programs has drawn on decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, health utility measurement, willingness-to-pay, conjoint analysis, and other related methods to provide evidence to national decision makers. Much of her work has focused on childhood health interventions including vaccination and newborn screening. Prof. Prosser is particularly interested in developing new approaches to measure the effects of childhood illness on family quality of life and to understand how parents make trade-offs when considering treatments for ill children. She has worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of vaccination programs for seasonal influenza and H1N1 influenza. Her earlier research has also explored the relationship between risk attitude and treatment choice.

Areas of Interest: Estimating the costs, benefits, and risks of health care interventions and prevention programs.

Rudy Richardson, Sc.D., DABT
Professor, Environmental Health Sciences
Dow Professor of Toxicology

Prof. Richardson is interested in computational toxicology and its applications to risk science, with an emphasis on neurological disorders. Computational approaches include molecular modeling of the interactions of toxicants with macromolecular targets (e.g., proteins and DNA), molecular dynamics simulations, and quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR).

Areas of Interest: Computational Toxicology, including molecular modeling, docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and QSAR, neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron Diseases, neurotoxicology of organophosphorus compounds, serine hydrolases, including patatin-domain phospholipases, as toxicological targets.

rickard Alex Rickard, Ph.D., MSc.
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology

Alex Rickard is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He has a broad interest in microbiology with an emphasis on fundamental and applied aspects of biofilms. Dr. Rickard’s expertise in biofilms spans all of the aforementioned sectors. This is evidenced by his past research positions and research projects. He has worked on the antimicrobial resistance of biofilms in environmental, medical and domestic settings as well as examining how biofilms develop in human oral (dental), skin (medical), freshwater, industrial, environmental and domestic settings. He uses multi-disciplinary approaches to understand how to effectively control microbial biofilms, whether through the application of antimicrobials, dispersing biofilm cells or preventing biofilm formation by manipulating inter-bacterial communication.

Areas of Interest: Biofilms, antimicrobial resistance, manipulating inter-bacterial communication and ecological risk assessment.

shope Jean Shope, MSPH, Ph.D.
Research Professor and Associate Director, Transportation Research Institute
Research Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education

Dr. Shope is Research Professor and Associate Director at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and Research Professor and Lecturer in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She has a BSN degree from Cornell University, an MSPH from the University of Minnesota, and a PhD from Wayne State University in the Theoretical and Behavioral Foundations of Education. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and has been on the University of Michigan faculty since that time. Dr. Shope has an extensive background in funded behavioral science research and prevention interventions for children, adolescents, and young adults, much of it in the areas of school health education, adolescent substance use, adolescent driving, graduated driver licensing, at-risk drinking, and drink/driving. She has done studies using tailored, computer-based interventions in the emergency department and on the University of Michigan campus, and is currently involved in a series of studies related to helping parents reduce their teen drivers’ risk of motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of teen deaths in the US. Dr. Shope has been actively promoting injury research and courses at the University, and teaches injury courses at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She directed the Center for Injury Prevention among Youth, and co-founded the University of Michigan Injury Center.

Areas of Interest: Safety of young drivers, parental programs to protect young drivers, and the influences on young drivers that result in risk.

Chuanwu Xi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences

Dr. Xi’s expertise is in biofilms, water quality and water treatment, bio-imaging, molecular microbial ecology, antibiotic resistance, environmental genomics, infectious diseases and control, Acinetobacter and Helicobacter pylori, and global health. His research focuses on biofilms, water quality and human health in three major inter-related areas: (A) molecular mechanisms of biofilm development; (B) characterization of biofilms in environmental, industrial and clinical settings; and (C) development of novel approaches for biofilm control for a variety of applications. His research has been supported by various sponsors including federal agencies, industry, and private foundations. Some of his research will not only contribute to the basic sciences but also improve the awareness of public of certain emerging public health issues. In addition, his research has direct applications in reducing environment- and biofilm-related risks to human health and industrial processes.

Areas of Interest: Biofilms, water quality and treatment, antibiotic resistance, infectious diseases and control, global health, and microbial risk assessment and control

Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education
Research Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine

Prof. Zikmund-Fisher has an interdisciplinary background in decision psychology, behavioral economics, and health communication, which he uses to explore the factors that affect decision making about health, medical and environmental risks. Current research projects examine the use of graphical representations to improve understandings of risk, the effects of poor numeracy (people's ability to interpret quantitative information) on decision making about risk, community perceptions of the uncertain risks of environmental exposure, and novel techniques for communicating both genetic and medical treatment-induced risks.

Areas of Interest: Risk communication methods and practice, determinants of risk perceptions, using risk information to improve individual and corporate self-management.

Student Affiliates

Julia K. Diebol
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Julia Diebol is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the recipient of a 2011 Risk Science Summer fellowship, and a regular contributor to the Risk Science Center blog. Her current research focuses on perceptions of hazard and exposure information in settings of community environmental exposure and uncertain risk.

Areas of Interest: Environmental risk communication, chemical hazard communication, human factors, and product and occupational health and safety.

dornbos Peter Dornbos
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Peter received a BS at Calvin College in 2010. His interests are in environmental exposures and the use of wildlife sentinel species in assessing potential human and environmental health risks. He is currently a second year MSc student studying the effects of methylmercury on the mammalian brain. With the use of wildlife sentinel species, potential human and environmental risks associated with mercury exposure are quantified and better understood. Following completion of this project, he will begin a project developing an in vitro platform to assess potential human and environmental health risks of the emerging use of rare earth elements.

Areas of Interest: Environmental exposures, Using wildlife as sentinels for human and environmental health, and development of high-throughput platforms to rapidly test and analyze potential toxicants.

Shara Evans
Department of Epidemiology
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Shara Evans is a first year Master’s of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology at UMSPH. She has a Masters in Health Policy and Demography from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College. Shara currently works with the Risk Science Center as their Media Assistant, and the Aiello Research Group as a research assistant on the upcoming eX-Flu Study, examining the influence of social networks on the spread of Influenza.

Areas of Interest: Genetics, science and risk communication, global health, social networks and maternal and child health.

Kelly Ferguson
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Kelly graduated from the University of Michigan School of Public Health with an MPH in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences in April 2011. She is now a doctoral pre-candidate in the same department, studying environmental chemical exposures and reproductive epidemiology. Her dissertation research will focus on the relationship between phthalate exposure and reproductive outcomes, including preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR).

Areas of interest: Exposure assessment, biomarkers, environmental and reproductive epidemiology, maternal and child health, reproductive toxicology.

Gamola Fortneberry
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Gamola Fortenberry is a PhD candidate in the department of Environmental Health Sciences with a concentration in environmental epidemiology. She received a bachelor of science in Environmental Science from Florida A & M University and a MPH in Environmental Quality and Health from the University of Michigan. Currently, her research focuses on the impact of prenatal pesticide exposure, particularly chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrfos-methyl, on early childhood neurodevelopment. The goal of her project is to quantify pesticide exposure and examine it and other risk factors, such as gene-environment interactions, of adverse cognitive and behavioral outcomes in the Early Life Exposure in Mexico to Environment Toxicants (ELEMENT) study. Her work will also offer insights into proposed biological mechanisms using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Areas of interest: Exposure assessment, maternal and child health, biomarkers, environmental epidemiology, environmental justice, risk communication.

Christine Greene
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Christine Greene is a doctoral pre-candidate in Environmental Health Science at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. Her research involves identifying the risk factors for the survival and transmission of an emerging nosocomial pathogen, Acinetobacter baumannii, focusing on the ability of this microorganism to form biofilms on various hospital surfaces and the role of these biofilms in survival and virulence. Christine is a recipient of the 2011 University of Michigan Risk Science Center Research Fellowship as well as the 2011-2012 Epidemiology Departmental Interdisciplinary Infectious Disease (IPID) Fellowship funded by the NIH. She received her Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry followed by a Masters of Public Health in Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology from the University of Michigan.

Areas of Interest: Biofilms, emerging infectious disease, antibiotic resistance, water quality, environmental epidemiology, mathematical modeling of infectious diseases.

Siying Huang
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Siying Huang is a Ph.D candidate in the department of Environmental Health Sciences, concentrated on environmental epidemiology. Her research mainly focuses on impact from environmental exposure on neurodevelopment and aging process. Specifically her research works focuses on life span exposure to lead interacting with genetic variants in the etiology of Parkinson’s disease; perinatal lead exposure affecting psychomotor function development and neurobehaviors in Early Life Exposure in Mexico to Environment Toxicants (ELEMENT) study. Her primary academic mentor is Dr. Howard Hu. She also works on Normative Aging Study (NAS) on cumulative lead exposure and type II diabetes with Dr. Sung Kyun Park from the department of Epidemiology.

Areas of Interest: Cumulative exposure, aging process and growth modeling.

Dinsheng Li
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Dingsheng Li graduated with a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Nanjing University, China and now is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Michigan. His research focus is on models related to environmental issues, ranging from multimedia fate models on the scale of kilometers to Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models on the scale of nanometers. Dingsheng's primary project now is developing a PBPK model to understand the biodistribution of engineered nanoparticles in the body.

Areas of Interest: PBPK model, multimedia fate model and life cycle assessment.

Lauretta Ovadje
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Lauretta Ovadje graduated with a bachelor of science in Biology and Environmental Science from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania and is currently a Ph. D. student in the Environmental Health Sciences Department at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her dissertation research focuses on identifying barriers to the use and adherence of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) including the environmental limitations of deployment of these nets, toxicological concerns, and malaria risk perceptions of caregivers of young children. The main goal of her research is to give local malaria control programs in Nigeria information that can be used to improve their ITN distribution and educational activities so that the impact of ITNs on the malaria burden can be maximized.

Areas of Interest: Environmental risk factors, malaria, health behavior, risk perception, insecticide treated bed nets, global health and children.

sampson Natalie Sampson
Department of Health Behavior and Health Education
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Natalie Sampson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She received her BS from U of M in Environmental Science and her MPH from Portland State University. She is currently working on her dissertation focused on transportation infrastructure decision-making in the U.S. as it relates to health, particularly investigating the experiences of host communities, public engagement processes, and the exchange of expert and local knowledge. Natalie also participates in research and planning with local governments and communities to understand and adapt to increased health risks associated with our changing climate.

Areas of interest: Transportation and health, climate change, public involvement in environmental risk assessment and planning and instructional development.

weir Lindsay Weir
Department of Epidemiology
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Lindsay Weir is currently a Master’s of Public Health candidate studying Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology at the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health. She holds a dual Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Biology and Policy Studies from Lafayette College (Easton, PA), and is a recipient of the 2012 Risk Science Center Fellowship. Her research focuses on interactions between environmental bacteria and nosocomial pathogens as a means of understanding environmental retention of and possible control mechanisms for clinically-relevant species.

Areas of interest: nosocomial pathogens, hospital-acquired infections, biofilms

Associate Members

Sonja Capracotta Ph.D.
Senior Applications Scientist
NanoSight

Dr. Sonja S. Capracotta studied chemistry at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Upon finishing with her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2003, she went on to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry in 2008 by studying organic synthesis under the direction of Dr. Daniel L. Comins at North Carolina State University. In 2009, she obtained a post doctoral position in Toxicology in the department of Environmental Health Sciences within the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan working for Dean Martin A. Philbert. Currently in the Philbert lab, she is applying her chemistry to toxicology by working in both neuro- and nanotoxicologies. In her spare time, she plays violin in the Life Sciences Orchestra at the University of Michigan.

Areas of Interest: Nanotoxicology, nanoparticle characterization, nanotechnology regulation and policy.

John Strothman
Strothman Associates

John 's experience in risk analysis spans several perspectives. John worked in science-based risk for the DOE's Center for Security Systems and Technologies, and his experience with Wells Fargo Bank focused on data center threat assessment while similar work was performed on major municipal structures. He also has experience with financial risk and investment research while working on business growth, mergers and closures.

Areas of Interest: Technology transfer and security systems; financial risk methods; science and engineering based risk; governance.

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About Advisory Boards Membership Fellowships Education & Training News & Information Events Monthly updates Blog Unplugged Contact Us	Membership Membership Guidelines Faculty Members Student Affiliates Associate Members Center Staff Director Andrew D. Maynard, Ph.D. Prof. Maynard is a leading authority on the responsible development and use of emerging technologies. His research interests span identifying, assessing and managing emergent risks, to exploring innovative solutions to established and emerging human health and environmental risks, to equipping people with the tools they need to make informed decisions in the face of risk and uncertainty. Prof. Maynard is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Emerging Technologies, serves on numerous review and advisory panels around the world, and has testified on a number of occasions before U.S. Congressional committees. He appears frequently in print and on television and radio, and writes regularly on science and society at http://2020science.org/ Managing Director Tracy Swinburn, MSc. Tracy develops the core program of the Risk Science Center and works with faculty to build the center's impact and reach, as well as contributing as a research economist. Her research includes cost benefit assessments of transport improvements, developing methods for valuing hard-to-quantify elements in cost benefit assessment, and evaluating the impacts of the Olympics on host cities. Tracy holds degrees from Rhodes College and the London School of Economics and held prior posts at think tanks (Brookings and the Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK) and in consultancy. *Areas of interest:* Cost benefit assessment and methods, valuing hard-to-quanitfy impacts, transport and public health, measuring 'Quality of Place' impacts Faculty Members Niladri Basu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Prof. Basu is an environmental toxicologist interested in the risk assessment of aquatic pollutants, development of neurochemical biomarkers, and the use of fish and wildlife as sentinels of human and environmental health hazards. Prof. Basu's research uses basic, applied, and innovative methods to evaluate ecosystem health. His current activities focus on: 1) the development, application, and validation of neurochemical biomarkers to assess sub-clinical, neurotoxic damage in wildlife and humans; 2) using fish and wildlife as sentinel organisms to study the etiology of diseases relevant to humans and ecosystems. *Areas of Interest:* Ecotoxicology, ecological risk assessment, biomarkers, gene-environment interactions and global health. C. Raymond Bingham, Ph.D. Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan School of Medicine Research Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health Dr. C. Raymond Bingham is a research professor at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Michigan Medical School. He received his doctorate in human development from Penn State University, and his research interests are in unintentional injury prevention, with a focus on young drivers, alcohol use, and program development and evaluation. Dr. Bingham has lead research funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Safety Council, the Department of Veterans Affairs, Michigan state agencies, and private corporations. Dr. Bingham is currently a member and secretary of the Transportation Research Board Committee on Young Drivers and a member of the Committee on Alcohol, Other Drugs and Transportation. He currently serves on the Michigan Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Committee, Sub-Committee for Novice Teen Drivers, and the University of Michigan Injury Center Internal Advisory Committee, the University of Michigan Health Sciences Health Behavior Institutional Review Board, and various other University of Michigan committees. *Areas of Interest:* Young drivers, prevention of injury related to motor vehicles and alcohol. Greg Bond, Ph.D., M.P.H. Corporate Director of EH&S and Sustainability The Dow Chemical Company Greg Bond is currently a loaned executive from Dow to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor working with the Graham Sustainability Institute. Trained at the U-M as an occupational and environment epidemiologist, Greg is a recognized global leader in chemical risk assessment and management having authored and presented numerous publications and papers and advised dozens of government agencies around the world. Prior to assuming his current role in July 2012, for more than 15 years he led Dow’s global product safety organization, including the toxicology and environment fate laboratories. From March, 2006 until December 1, 2008, Greg held the additional role of Asia Pacific EH&S Director and was based in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. In addition to his current responsibilities at the U-M, Greg is currently co-chairing the International Council of Chemical Association’s Chemicals Policy and Health Leadership Group which is working to improve the product safety performance of the global chemical industry and strengthen science and risk-based chemicals management legislation and regulation throughout the world. Areas of interest: Occupational and environmental epidemiology, chemical risk assessment and management, risk communication and inter-disciplinary approaches to sustainability challenges. Diana Bowman, LLB, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Risk Science Center and the Department of Health Management and Policy International Visiting Professor, Department of Governance and Regulation, University of Twente Dr. Bowman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management Policy, School of Public Health, at the University of Michigan and a visiting international scholar in the Faculty of Law, KU Leuven (Belgium). In addition to these roles Diana serves as a member on the Australian Government’s National Enabling Technologies Strategy Expert Forum. Diana’s research has focused primarily on legal, regulatory and public health policy issues relating to new technologies, in particular nanotechnologies. Diana is the co-editor of several books including New Global Frontiers in Regulation: The Age of Nanotechnology (2007, with Hodge and Ludlow) and Nanotechnology Risk Management: Perspectives and Progress (2010, with Hull) and the International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies (2010, with Hodge and Maynard). Diana has qualifications in science and law (Monash University, 2003), a PhD in Law (2007), and is admitted to practice as an Australian Lawyer. *Areas of Interest:* Regulatory and legal aspects of risk science (i.e., how to regulate nanotechnologies and other emerging technologies), using risk science to improve population health, and risk and road safety. Alfred Franzblau, M.D. Associate Dean for Research, School of Public Health Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine Associate Research Scientist, Center for Ergonomics Dr. Franzblau graduated from the University of California School of Medicine in San Diego, completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington, and had advanced training in Occupational and Environmental Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1989. He is board certified in both Internal Medicine and Preventive/Occupational Medicine, and he is a certified B reader. His professional activities include teaching, research, and the clinical practice of occupational and environmental medicine. Research interests include work-related musculoskeletal disorders (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis and osteoarthritis), chemical exposures (e.g., dioxins and metals in the environment), and occupational and environmental lung disease (e.g., pneumoconioses, asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis). From 2003-2006 he co-chaired the Health IRB at the University of Michigan, and from 2001-2009 he served as a scientific advisor to the UAW-GM National Joint Committee for Health and Safety. He is a member of the USEPA Science Advisory Board Exposure and Human Health Committee, and he has served as a reviewer for numerous journals, government agencies and the Institute of Medicine. He was recently appointed as Associate Dean for Research of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and he also holds academic appointments at the University of Michigan Medical School and College of Engineering. *Areas of Interest:* Musculoskeletal disorders, biological monitoring of chemical exposures, occupational neurological disease, occupational respiratory disease and environmental exposure assessment for dioxins and other persistent environmental chemicals. Peter Jacobson, J.D., M.P.H. Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy Prof. Jacobson’s current research interests focus on the relationship between law and health care delivery and policy, law and public health systems, and health care safety net services. Currently, he is working on projects involving public health ethics, fraud and abuse, and health care governance. Prof. Jacobson recently worked with the RAND Corporation on a project examining how the organization of public health systems affects preparedness efforts. He is the principal investigator on a project examining how communities in Michigan organize to provide mental health and diabetes care to uninsured populations. *Areas of Interest:* Regulatory and legal aspects of risk science (i.e., how to regulate nanotechnology and similar processes), using risk science to improve population health, and establishing closer ties between the Risk Science Center and the Center for Law, Ethics, and Health. Olivier Jolliet, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Prof. Jolliet's research and teaching programs aim to provide the scientific knowledge for assessing environmental risks and impacts of chemicals, in order to develop a flexible risk assessment framework, to model population-based exposure and intake fractions for outdoor and indoor chemical emissions in a consistent way, and to assess the life cycle risks, impacts and benefits related to new technologies and materials in order to prevent emissions and guide the development of these technologies. *Areas of Interest:* Risk assessment of emerging technologies (e.g., nano, pharmaceutical released in the environment, build-up of environmental antibiotic resistance) Patricia Koman Senior Project Manager, Environmental Health Sciences Trish Koman brings extensive experience from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to her research and teaching. While at EPA, she was the principal author of landmark national air pollution standards for particulate matter, established a program to reduce diesel emissions from marine ports, and managed multi-disciplinary benefit-cost analyses, regulatory programs, and technological innovation initiatives. *Areas of Interest:* Policy analysis, health and environmental effects of air pollution and climate change, diesel exposure, environmental justice, sustainability, benefit-cost analysis, and risk communication. David Mendez, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy David Mendez is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. His research is in the areas of smoking control, product and service quality on demand, and policies regarding residential radon. Professor Mendez is the faculty lead for instructional technology in the School of Public Health, and recently he has worked on developing a model for distance education for the School's Executive Master's program. *Areas of Interest:* Developing mathematical/computer models to help policy makers explore solutions to public health problem, developing models for tobacco control, radon control and HPV vaccination. Rafael Meza, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Epidemiology Dr. Meza is assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He received his BSc in applied mathematics from the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM), and his PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Washington. Dr. Meza's research interests lie at the interface of epidemiology, biostatistics and biomathematics. He is interested in cancer risk assessment and the analysis of cancer epidemiology data using mechanistic models of carcinogenesis. He is also interested in the mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics and its applications in public health policy design. Dr. Meza is a member of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) lung and esophagus groups, and a core member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMCCC). *Areas of Interest: Cancer risk assessment, multistage carcinogenesis models, smoking and lung cancer risk, colon cancer epidemiology, public health policy modeling, mathematical modeling of infectious disease dynamics, contact network epidemiology, cancers with infectious disease etiology. Masako Morishita, Ph.D.* Assistant Research Scientist, Environmental Health Sciences Dr. Morishita's research areas include investigation of air pollution health effects, with particular emphasis on source-exposure-dose pathways of air toxics, trace metals and nanoparticles. She is also engaged in developing a multidisciplinary network and collaboration opportunities focusing on nanomaterial/nanotechnology health effects. *Areas of Interest:* Air pollution exposure assessment, sources of trace metals and air toxics, and nanoparticle characterization. Rick L Neitzel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Risk Science Center and Environmental Health Sciences Rick has been an Assistant Professor in the Risk Science Center within the University of Michigan's Department of Environmental Health Sciences since September 2011. He received a PhD in Environmental and Occupational Hygiene from the University of Washington in 2009, and has been a Certified Industrial Hygienist since 2003. He has been conducting research on noise and related health effects since 1997. His current research interests include quantitative and subjective exposure assessment in occupational and non-occupational settings, development of effective occupational health and safety interventions and controls, and incorporation of new and emerging technologies into exposure assessment and risk science. He has a particular interest in exposure issues in the construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries. *Areas of Interest:* Exposure assessment, injury prevention, noise and safety and emerging technologies. Jerome Nriagu, Ph.D., DSc Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Research Scientist, Center for Human Growth and Development Prof. Nriagu's research and teaching programs center around three main issues: (i) sources, behavior, fate and effects of metals in the natural and contaminated environments; (ii) environmental justice and disproportionate exposure of communities to environmental pollutants; and (iii) environmental health problems in the developing countries. His work includes applied laboratory and field studies and has led to 28 books (authored/edited) and over 250 published articles. *Areas of Interest:* Environmental chemistry, global health (such as environmental risk factors for malaria), hazards in the home environment (healthy homes), disproportionate exposure and environmental justice, arsenic exposure and poisoning as a global issues. Mary O'Neill, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Associate Professor, Epidemiology Marie O'Neill has worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Pan American Health Organization, in Mexico at the National Institute of Public Health and the National Center for Environmental Health as a Fulbright Scholar, and as a Research Fellow in Environmental Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at University of Michigan from 2004 to 2006. *Areas of Interest:* Health effects of air pollution, temperature extremes and climate change (mortality, asthma, hospital admissions, and cardiovascular endpoints); environmental exposure assessment; and socio-economic influences on health. Shobita Parthasarathy, Ph.D. Associate Professor at the Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan Shobita Parthasarathy is Associate Professor at the Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. She holds a BA (Biology) from the University of Chicago, and Masters and PhD degrees (Science and Technology Studies) from Cornell University. Her research focuses on the governance of emerging science and technology, with a focus on areas that have uncertain ethical, social, environmental, health, legal, and political implications. She is the author of numerous articles and a book entitled, Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology, and the Comparative Politics of Health Care (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007). She is working on her second book, which explores the politics of biotechnology patents in the United States and Europe. *Areas of Interest:* Genetics, Biotechnology, ethics, governance and regulation, intellectual property, science and technology policy, democracy and public participation, expertise. Martin Philbert, Ph.D. Dean, School of Public Health Professor of Toxicology Prof. Philbert’s research activities include experimental neuropathology, nitrocompound-induced encephalopathies, mitochondrial mechanisms in non-neuronal cell death, and development of Nano-Optical Chemical Systems for in vivo physiology. He is engaged in the development of optical nanosensors for intracellular applications in in vitro toxicology and dynamic nanoplatforms for the early detection and treatment of brain cancers. His research group is among the first to perform toxicology tests on polymeric nanoparticles for a variety of applications. *Areas of Interest:* Nanoscience research and development, risk science for sophisticated regulatory science. Lisa A. Prosser, Ph.D., M.S. Associate Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases Prof. Prosser is a decision scientist whose research uses decision analysis and modeling methods to inform key questions relating to public health policy. Her research evaluating national vaccination and prevention programs has drawn on decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, health utility measurement, willingness-to-pay, conjoint analysis, and other related methods to provide evidence to national decision makers. Much of her work has focused on childhood health interventions including vaccination and newborn screening. Prof. Prosser is particularly interested in developing new approaches to measure the effects of childhood illness on family quality of life and to understand how parents make trade-offs when considering treatments for ill children. She has worked closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of vaccination programs for seasonal influenza and H1N1 influenza. Her earlier research has also explored the relationship between risk attitude and treatment choice. *Areas of Interest:* Estimating the costs, benefits, and risks of health care interventions and prevention programs. Rudy Richardson, Sc.D., DABT Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Dow Professor of Toxicology Prof. Richardson is interested in computational toxicology and its applications to risk science, with an emphasis on neurological disorders. Computational approaches include molecular modeling of the interactions of toxicants with macromolecular targets (e.g., proteins and DNA), molecular dynamics simulations, and quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR). *Areas of Interest:* Computational Toxicology, including molecular modeling, docking, molecular dynamics simulations, and QSAR, neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Motor Neuron Diseases, neurotoxicology of organophosphorus compounds, serine hydrolases, including patatin-domain phospholipases, as toxicological targets. Alex Rickard, Ph.D., MSc. Assistant Professor, Epidemiology Alex Rickard is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He has a broad interest in microbiology with an emphasis on fundamental and applied aspects of biofilms. Dr. Rickard’s expertise in biofilms spans all of the aforementioned sectors. This is evidenced by his past research positions and research projects. He has worked on the antimicrobial resistance of biofilms in environmental, medical and domestic settings as well as examining how biofilms develop in human oral (dental), skin (medical), freshwater, industrial, environmental and domestic settings. He uses multi-disciplinary approaches to understand how to effectively control microbial biofilms, whether through the application of antimicrobials, dispersing biofilm cells or preventing biofilm formation by manipulating inter-bacterial communication. Areas of Interest: Biofilms, antimicrobial resistance, manipulating inter-bacterial communication and ecological risk assessment. Jean Shope, MSPH, Ph.D. Research Professor and Associate Director, Transportation Research Institute Research Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education Dr. Shope is Research Professor and Associate Director at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) and Research Professor and Lecturer in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She has a BSN degree from Cornell University, an MSPH from the University of Minnesota, and a PhD from Wayne State University in the Theoretical and Behavioral Foundations of Education. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and has been on the University of Michigan faculty since that time. Dr. Shope has an extensive background in funded behavioral science research and prevention interventions for children, adolescents, and young adults, much of it in the areas of school health education, adolescent substance use, adolescent driving, graduated driver licensing, at-risk drinking, and drink/driving. She has done studies using tailored, computer-based interventions in the emergency department and on the University of Michigan campus, and is currently involved in a series of studies related to helping parents reduce their teen drivers’ risk of motor vehicle crashes, the leading cause of teen deaths in the US. Dr. Shope has been actively promoting injury research and courses at the University, and teaches injury courses at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She directed the Center for Injury Prevention among Youth, and co-founded the University of Michigan Injury Center. Areas of Interest: Safety of young drivers, parental programs to protect young drivers, and the influences on young drivers that result in risk. Chuanwu Xi, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Sciences Dr. Xi’s expertise is in biofilms, water quality and water treatment, bio-imaging, molecular microbial ecology, antibiotic resistance, environmental genomics, infectious diseases and control, Acinetobacter and Helicobacter pylori, and global health. His research focuses on biofilms, water quality and human health in three major inter-related areas: (A) molecular mechanisms of biofilm development; (B) characterization of biofilms in environmental, industrial and clinical settings; and (C) development of novel approaches for biofilm control for a variety of applications. His research has been supported by various sponsors including federal agencies, industry, and private foundations. Some of his research will not only contribute to the basic sciences but also improve the awareness of public of certain emerging public health issues. In addition, his research has direct applications in reducing environment- and biofilm-related risks to human health and industrial processes. *Areas of Interest:* Biofilms, water quality and treatment, antibiotic resistance, infectious diseases and control, global health, and microbial risk assessment and control Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education Research Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine Prof. Zikmund-Fisher has an interdisciplinary background in decision psychology, behavioral economics, and health communication, which he uses to explore the factors that affect decision making about health, medical and environmental risks. Current research projects examine the use of graphical representations to improve understandings of risk, the effects of poor numeracy (people's ability to interpret quantitative information) on decision making about risk, community perceptions of the uncertain risks of environmental exposure, and novel techniques for communicating both genetic and medical treatment-induced risks. *Areas of Interest:* Risk communication methods and practice, determinants of risk perceptions, using risk information to improve individual and corporate self-management. Student Affiliates Julia K. Diebol Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Julia Diebol is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, the recipient of a 2011 Risk Science Summer fellowship, and a regular contributor to the Risk Science Center blog. Her current research focuses on perceptions of hazard and exposure information in settings of community environmental exposure and uncertain risk. Areas of Interest: Environmental risk communication, chemical hazard communication, human factors, and product and occupational health and safety. Peter Dornbos Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Peter received a BS at Calvin College in 2010. His interests are in environmental exposures and the use of wildlife sentinel species in assessing potential human and environmental health risks. He is currently a second year MSc student studying the effects of methylmercury on the mammalian brain. With the use of wildlife sentinel species, potential human and environmental risks associated with mercury exposure are quantified and better understood. Following completion of this project, he will begin a project developing an in vitro platform to assess potential human and environmental health risks of the emerging use of rare earth elements. Areas of Interest: Environmental exposures, Using wildlife as sentinels for human and environmental health, and development of high-throughput platforms to rapidly test and analyze potential toxicants. Shara Evans Department of Epidemiology University of Michigan School of Public Health Shara Evans is a first year Master’s of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology at UMSPH. She has a Masters in Health Policy and Demography from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College. Shara currently works with the Risk Science Center as their Media Assistant, and the Aiello Research Group as a research assistant on the upcoming eX-Flu Study, examining the influence of social networks on the spread of Influenza. Areas of Interest: Genetics, science and risk communication, global health, social networks and maternal and child health. Kelly Ferguson Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Kelly graduated from the University of Michigan School of Public Health with an MPH in Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences in April 2011. She is now a doctoral pre-candidate in the same department, studying environmental chemical exposures and reproductive epidemiology. Her dissertation research will focus on the relationship between phthalate exposure and reproductive outcomes, including preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). *Areas of interest:* Exposure assessment, biomarkers, environmental and reproductive epidemiology, maternal and child health, reproductive toxicology. Gamola Fortneberry Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Gamola Fortenberry is a PhD candidate in the department of Environmental Health Sciences with a concentration in environmental epidemiology. She received a bachelor of science in Environmental Science from Florida A & M University and a MPH in Environmental Quality and Health from the University of Michigan. Currently, her research focuses on the impact of prenatal pesticide exposure, particularly chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrfos-methyl, on early childhood neurodevelopment. The goal of her project is to quantify pesticide exposure and examine it and other risk factors, such as gene-environment interactions, of adverse cognitive and behavioral outcomes in the Early Life Exposure in Mexico to Environment Toxicants (ELEMENT) study. Her work will also offer insights into proposed biological mechanisms using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Areas of interest: Exposure assessment, maternal and child health, biomarkers, environmental epidemiology, environmental justice, risk communication. Christine Greene Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Christine Greene is a doctoral pre-candidate in Environmental Health Science at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. Her research involves identifying the risk factors for the survival and transmission of an emerging nosocomial pathogen, Acinetobacter baumannii, focusing on the ability of this microorganism to form biofilms on various hospital surfaces and the role of these biofilms in survival and virulence. Christine is a recipient of the 2011 University of Michigan Risk Science Center Research Fellowship as well as the 2011-2012 Epidemiology Departmental Interdisciplinary Infectious Disease (IPID) Fellowship funded by the NIH. She received her Bachelors of Science in Biochemistry followed by a Masters of Public Health in Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. Areas of Interest: Biofilms, emerging infectious disease, antibiotic resistance, water quality, environmental epidemiology, mathematical modeling of infectious diseases. Siying Huang Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Siying Huang is a Ph.D candidate in the department of Environmental Health Sciences, concentrated on environmental epidemiology. Her research mainly focuses on impact from environmental exposure on neurodevelopment and aging process. Specifically her research works focuses on life span exposure to lead interacting with genetic variants in the etiology of Parkinson’s disease; perinatal lead exposure affecting psychomotor function development and neurobehaviors in Early Life Exposure in Mexico to Environment Toxicants (ELEMENT) study. Her primary academic mentor is Dr. Howard Hu. She also works on Normative Aging Study (NAS) on cumulative lead exposure and type II diabetes with Dr. Sung Kyun Park from the department of Epidemiology. *Areas of Interest:* Cumulative exposure, aging process and growth modeling. Dinsheng Li Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Dingsheng Li graduated with a B.S. degree in Environmental Science from Nanjing University, China and now is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Michigan. His research focus is on models related to environmental issues, ranging from multimedia fate models on the scale of kilometers to Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models on the scale of nanometers. Dingsheng's primary project now is developing a PBPK model to understand the biodistribution of engineered nanoparticles in the body. *Areas of Interest:* PBPK model, multimedia fate model and life cycle assessment. Lauretta Ovadje Department of Environmental Health Sciences University of Michigan School of Public Health Lauretta Ovadje graduated with a bachelor of science in Biology and Environmental Science from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania and is currently a Ph. D. student in the Environmental Health Sciences Department at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her dissertation research focuses on identifying barriers to the use and adherence of insecticide treated bed nets (ITNs) including the environmental limitations of deployment of these nets, toxicological concerns, and malaria risk perceptions of caregivers of young children. The main goal of her research is to give local malaria control programs in Nigeria information that can be used to improve their ITN distribution and educational activities so that the impact of ITNs on the malaria burden can be maximized. *Areas of Interest: Environmental risk factors, malaria, health behavior, risk perception, insecticide treated bed nets, global health and children.* Natalie Sampson Department of Health Behavior and Health Education University of Michigan School of Public Health Natalie Sampson is a PhD candidate in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She received her BS from U of M in Environmental Science and her MPH from Portland State University. She is currently working on her dissertation focused on transportation infrastructure decision-making in the U.S. as it relates to health, particularly investigating the experiences of host communities, public engagement processes, and the exchange of expert and local knowledge. Natalie also participates in research and planning with local governments and communities to understand and adapt to increased health risks associated with our changing climate. *Areas of interest:* Transportation and health, climate change, public involvement in environmental risk assessment and planning and instructional development. Lindsay Weir Department of Epidemiology University of Michigan School of Public Health Lindsay Weir is currently a Master’s of Public Health candidate studying Hospital and Molecular Epidemiology at the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health. She holds a dual Bachelor’s of Arts degree in Biology and Policy Studies from Lafayette College (Easton, PA), and is a recipient of the 2012 Risk Science Center Fellowship. Her research focuses on interactions between environmental bacteria and nosocomial pathogens as a means of understanding environmental retention of and possible control mechanisms for clinically-relevant species. *Areas of interest:* nosocomial pathogens, hospital-acquired infections, biofilms Associate Members Sonja Capracotta Ph.D. Senior Applications Scientist NanoSight Dr. Sonja S. Capracotta studied chemistry at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Upon finishing with her Bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 2003, she went on to earn her Ph.D. in chemistry in 2008 by studying organic synthesis under the direction of Dr. Daniel L. Comins at North Carolina State University. In 2009, she obtained a post doctoral position in Toxicology in the department of Environmental Health Sciences within the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan working for Dean Martin A. Philbert. Currently in the Philbert lab, she is applying her chemistry to toxicology by working in both neuro- and nanotoxicologies. In her spare time, she plays violin in the Life Sciences Orchestra at the University of Michigan. Areas of Interest: Nanotoxicology, nanoparticle characterization, nanotechnology regulation and policy. John Strothman Strothman Associates John 's experience in risk analysis spans several perspectives. John worked in science-based risk for the DOE's Center for Security Systems and Technologies, and his experience with Wells Fargo Bank focused on data center threat assessment while similar work was performed on major municipal structures. He also has experience with financial risk and investment research while working on business growth, mergers and closures. Areas of Interest: Technology transfer and security systems; financial risk methods; science and engineering based risk; governance. To search for other UM faculty working on related research topics, please visit the following pages: UM Experts UM SPH Experts 734-615-3050 \| 1415 Washington Heights, SPH I, Room 6611, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 University of Michigan Home \| Regents of the University of Michigan