Chemicals in the Environment: Toxicology and Public Health
MIT's biological engineering course examines how scientists establish links between chemical exposure and human disease. Topics cover epidemiological methods for studying disease causation, biostatistical techniques, and how researchers evaluate human exposure to environmental chemicals, tracking their distribution, metabolism, and reactions within the body. The course also covers qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methods that U.S. regulators use to set chemical safety standards. Students work through case studies of local and national environmental health concerns to see how these methods apply in practice. Materials include MIT OpenCourseWare's standard offerings: lecture notes, assignments, and readings, freely available with no certificate offered. The course sits across Biological Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering, reflecting its combination of toxicology, statistics, and public policy.