OSH Generations is about family and the safety profession. Many OSH professionals have parents or children who are also in the profession. Our members share their stories of the people who influenced them to enter the safety profession or those who they inspired to become safety professionals. Here's the story of Elizabeth H. Maples, Ph.D. This story was originally published in the April 2013 issue of Society Update.
My daughter, Stephanie, was close to graduating with an undergraduate degree in philosophy, when she decided to take a course in industrial hygiene. She was hooked. After completing her master’s degree in Industrial Hygiene at University of Alabama at Birmingham, she worked for NIOSH for a few years. Currently, Stephanie is working on her doctorate in Occupational Injury Prevention at Auburn University, College of Engineering, Industrial & Systems Engineering. Her research is on robustly defining the incidence rate of musculoskeletal disorders in southeastern loggers, and identifying the most problematic machine to propose remediation at the design level. Her advisor is Rich Sesek, Ph.D., CSP, CPE, at Auburn University. I am quite proud of my daughter and her dedication to protecting and promoting worker safety and health.