By any measure I am in the latter stages of my career. I have been around a long time and have seen
quite a bit of positive change in the Industrial Hygiene profession. We are evolving from a “pump jockey”
mentality into a much more rigorous scientifically based vocation. The refinement and enhancement of the
science of sampling statistics by Jerry Lynch, John Mulhausen and others along
with the pioneering efforts to use Bayesian statistics by Paul Hewitt and
others are prime examples.
At the AIHA
conference in Minnesota last month I attended a presentation by Dr. Jerome Lavoue
on a freely available statistical analysis tool: expostat. This effort was new to me and it looked like
a great tool. I sent a note to my
friend Tom Armstrong about it. He
responded that he was well aware of this tool and sends me a remarkable slide
deck on statistical analysis that he is working on.
Tom starts off with a 10,000 meter view of IH statistics and
rapidly zooms into providing useful, spot-on guidance and details on the
current state of the science and where to get more info. Like I said, it is a remarkable set of 30 or
so slides which Tom has agreed to allow me to send to you if you request
it: mjayjock@gmail.com.
Another highlight of the conference for me was a visit to
Dr. Susan Arnold’s laboratory at the University of Minnesota. It is a great lab with a lot of salient instruments
and a chamber that allows her and her students to conduct some controlled exposure
studies. She also told me something
about her IH curriculum which is very heavy in modeling and science. I am aware of a few other programs along
these lines but I was particularly happy to see Susan doing this. If I were a young person interested in a
top-notched program with opportunity for hands-on research I would consider
moving to Minnesota weather notwithstanding.
