“Only 13 students across the southeast were chosen to present at the conference,” said Tracy Zontek, assistant professor of environmental health. “WCU students hold almost half of those presentation slots, which definitely speaks to the quality of research developing in the environmental health program.”

WCU students Neil Henry, Annaleise Lysen, Armelja Sanxhaku, Jessica Stevenson, Anna Voncannon and Candice Waldron will present their findings on a variety of environmental health issues pertaining to safety.

Henry, from Winston Salem, researched and developed a personal protective equipment selection and training program for janitors, custodians and housekeepers at Western Carolina. Henry’s program is designed to ensure that every custodial employee can be trained properly on how to select, wear and maintain personal protective equipment. The nephew of  Monique Spencer, and Lydia and Tony Prysok, Henry graduated from Parkland High School in 1997.

Lysen and Stevenson created a study to determine attitudes toward and the effectiveness of WCU’s new smoking policy, which requires a smoke-free perimeter of 50 feet from all on-campus buildings. They will discuss a survey they conducted that asked students, faculty and staff about smoking practices, effects of smoking around the buildings and potential solutions to increase compliance. Lysen, a rising senior from Cameron, graduated from Overhills High School in 2006. She is the daughter of George and Susan Thomas. Stevenson graduated from Hickory High School in 2007, and she is the daughter of Barry and Angie Stevenson.

Sanxhaku, a senior from Hendersonville, will discuss her research that assessed potential hazards and appropriate personal protective equipment at WCU’s health clinic through interviews and work observations of a physician, head nurse, lab technician and housekeeper. From the assessment, Sanxhaku created a list of recommendations and training requirements. She graduated from Hendersonville High School in 2006, and she is the daughter of Artur and Zhuljeta Sanxhaku.

Voncannon, a senior from Concord, developed a study to help Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee review how to move chemical inventories to a new building, define controls areas to meet chemical storage limits, use engineering controls to ensure future flexibility of laboratory space, and determine recommendations for future research and development for chemical laboratory building design. Voncannon graduated from Jay M. Robinson High School in 2005, and she is the daughter of Gerald and Leslie Voncannon.

Waldron, a senior from Canton, will present her study that investigated how Oak Ridge National Laboratory could increase the use of direct reading instruments by technical staff. Waldron graduated from Pisgah High School in 2005, and she is the daughter of Melida Wright.

For more information about WCU’s environmental health sciences program, contact Burt Ogle by phone at (828) 227-3517 or via e-mail at bogle@email.wcu.edu.

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Last modified: Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009