Last week, our community came together on a perfect Pacific Northwest evening to celebrate this year’s 79 graduates in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS).
Family, friends, faculty and staff cheered as DEOHS Teaching Professor Tania Busch Isaksen and DEOHS Professor Christopher Simpson announced the graduating students.
June Spector, DEOHS professor and interim chair, spoke about our graduates’ multifaceted work to improve our community and communities around the state, country and world.
“I am incredibly proud to be standing with the next cohort of public health experts, who have learned not only to identify hazards, assess exposures, evaluate mechanisms and prevent health effects, but who will apply systems thinking, practical prevention-oriented problem solving, community engagement approaches, and rigorous research methods to respond to emerging challenges and shape the health and sustainability of our communities and workplaces,” Spector said.
Graduation by the numbers
The DEOHS Class of 2026 includes 79 students* earning the following degrees:
- 31 Bachelor of Science in Environmental Public Health graduates
- 8 Master of Public Health graduates
- 18 Master of Science (Applied) graduates
- 10 Master of Science (Thesis) graduates
- 12 Doctor of Philosophy graduates
*Note: These numbers represent students graduating from Autumn 2024 to Autumn 2025.
Outstanding students
At graduation, our community also celebrated award winners from across the department, school and university.
Emily Do, this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award, investigated the relationship between diesel exhaust and fatty liver disease associated with metabolic dysfunction. Do and others in the student organization she started, BeautifyUDub, recently won a Husky Sustainability Award.
Xinyuan Hao, our Outstanding Master’s Student, examined short-term temperature patterns and heat-related illness among workers in Washington state — research with direct relevance to policy. She found that the risk of heat-related illness increases five-fold when the daily high temperature is over 90° F.
Rebecca Kann, our Outstanding PhD Student, addressed critical questions about the relationship between piped water systems, household water storage, and gastrointestinal infections in children in Mozambique.
Exceptional faculty and staff
Graduate students Mariah Rubin and Gracie Hively presented the Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award to DEOHS Assistant Teaching Professor Emily Hovis.
“Emily has been the most incredible mentor I could have asked for and has completely reshaped my graduate school experience,” Rubin said.
“Thank you to everyone I’ve mentored over the years,” Hovis said. “It’s amazing to be honored in this way.”
Spector presented Amy Gundlach Ritter, DEOHS graduate program adviser, with the Distinguished Staff Award.
“She is deeply student-centered, remembering individuals by name, checking in on their well-being, and offering guidance with genuine care,” Spector said. “Her empathy, responsiveness, and unwavering commitment to student success make her an indispensable and outstanding member of the department.”
DEOHS faculty members Jennifer Otten, Sarah Collier and Marie Spiker were also recognized with the UW Distinguished Teaching Award for team instruction.
Finally, we celebrated the retirement of several faculty members: Assistant Chair and Teaching Professor Marty Cohen, former Interim Chair and Professor Lianne Sheppard, former Chair and Professor Mike Yost, and Professors Jerry Cangelosi and Scott Meschke.
Other recent graduating student award winners
Brianna Blanchard: NASA Psyche Inspired Platinum Class fellowship
Angelina Durbin: Husky 100 winner; Mary Gates Leadership Scholar
Xinmei Huang: Patricia Dougherty Fellowship in Aging; UW Graduate School Medal Finalist
