I went into studying Environmental Studies and Geography because I thought it would give me a leg up in multiple potential post-grad options such as law, policy, planning, research, and the scientific field. I was a bit worried, like some current or potential students, about whether or not the EVST degree would be enough to propel me into these career paths.

Though I initially got offers from legal assistant jobs and paralegal jobs that I thought would be a stepping stone to law school, the route I decided to go post grad was a full time job with a company Louis Berger as an environmental scientist and industrial hygienist. Though my job title is pretty broad, my specialization is monitoring the indoor air quality for private companies, school districts, and local, state and federal government agencies. For my IAQ investigations and exposure assessments, I monitor for dust (of all particle sizes,) CO, CO2, CH4, H2S, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), comfort parameters like temperature and relative humidity, and many other things. I also conduct active air sampling for mold, respirable and total dust, asbestos, lead, etc., depending on the client’s needs. I would say half of the time I am out with my instruments doing fieldwork, and the other half of the time I am in the NYC office doing research and writing up the reports with my findings and comparing them to the regulatory standards.

Other projects I work on include chemical management, soil sampling programs, and water sampling programs, which I find very interesting. The environmental health/industrial hygiene/occupational safety field is very broad since there are so many potential hazards and exposures out there,  and once you find what you want to do, you can focus on that. I find that I prefer working on multiple different projects at once because it makes me feel more versatile, instead of just focusing on one thing. It also means I’ll never run out of projects, which definitely guarantees job security.

I recommend looking into the field of industrial hygiene/environmental and occupational safety if you enjoy helping people in a concrete way, and if you don’t want a regular old 9-5 office job. I feel like I learn a lot every day because each project is different, as every client’s needs are different. I feel like my EVST degree helped because it exposed me to the kinds of experiences I really needed during undergrad, like research opportunities, internships, environmental law conferences, lots of technical writing, and a basic foundation for my love of the broader environmental field. I would definitely recommend this major to anyone that is willing to put their all into something they are passionate about.