Environmental Health Officer Professional Advisory Committee

More than 25 Students Participate as EHO JRCOSTEPS During 2010

The Indian Health Service (IHS), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Coast Guard (USCG) called 25 undergraduate and graduate students to active duty as JRCOSTEPS during the summer of 2010.  Students were stationed in locations across the country and were able to experience life as a Junior EHO in the US Public Health Service.

Current list of JRCOSTEPS

Qualifying degrees for receiving a Commission as an Environmental Health Officer.

Each year, the EHO Category hires approximately 25-35 students for summer Junior Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern Program (JRCOSTEP) positions. Most positions are with the Indian Health Service (IHS) in many different areas of the United States, including Alaska. Other agencies that typically hire one or two JRCOSTEPs per summer are: ATSDR, CDC, Coast Guard, and the National Park Service. The EHO category typically has 70-100 applicants for these positions; therefore, all positions are competitive. Most are undergraduate level, but there are several graduate students placed each year.

Below are several narratives of JRCOSTEP experiences from students who participated in the program during the summer of 2009.  These students were assigned to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG).  For more information on student experiences with the Indian Health Service (IHS) please visit the Division of Environmental Health Services website.

• ENS Ray Carter - USCG - PDF: 40 Kb
• ENS Megan Crawley, ATSDR - PDF: 4 Kb
• ENS Michael Dirks, ATSDR - PDF: 191 Kb
• ENS Janelle Zindroski, ATSDR - PDF: 40 Kb
• ENS Alan Goggins, CDC - PDF: 55 Kb
• ENS Samantha Kantrowitz, CDC - PDF: 151 Kb

For more information on student opportunities visit the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) website.

• Tips for JRCOSTEPS

A candidate must possess one of the following qualifying degrees or a degree and professional certification:

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Environmental Health from a program accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (NEHSPAC); see: http://www.ehacoffice.org/

Bachelor's, Master's or Doctoral degree in Industrial Hygiene from a program accredited by Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET): see: http://www.abet.org/AccredProgramSearch/AccreditationSearch.aspx

Master's or Doctoral degree in Environmental or Occupational Health from a school of public health accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH): see http://www.ceph.org/

A bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree in any field and one of the following:
i. Certification as an industrial hygienist by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene; see http://www.abih.org
ii. Certification as a health physicist by the American Board of Health Physics; see http://www.hps1.org/aahp/boardweb/abhphome.html

See Commissioned Corps Instruction 231.03 link to http://dcp.psc.gov/eccis/documents/CCI2_3_1_03.pdf (PDF, 112KB, 19 pages) Category Specific Appointment Standards for additional details. Environmental Health Officers are addressed in Section 6.6.