NIOSH Education and Research Centers are multidisciplinary centers supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for education and research in the field of occupational health. Through the centers, NIOSH supports academic degree programs and research opportunities. The ERCs, distributed in regions across the United States, establish academic, labor, and industry research partnerships. The research conducted at the centers is related to the National Occupational Research Agenda

National Occupational Research Agenda

The National Occupational Research Agenda is a partnership program developed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health . The program was founded in 1996 to provide a framework for research collaborations among universities, large and small businesses, professional societies,...

 (NORA) established by NIOSH.

Founded in 1977, NIOSH ERCs are responsible for nearly half of post-baccalaureate graduates entering occupational health and safety fields. The ERCs focus on industrial hygiene, occupational health nursing, occupational medicine, occupational safety, and other areas of specialization. At many ERCs, students in specific disciplines have their tuition paid in full and receive additional stipend money. ERCs provide a benefit to local businesses by offering reduced price assessments to local businesses.

2012 Proposed Funding Cuts

The proposed 2012 budget from President Obama has completely cut the $24 million in funding to NIOSH to support the program. This would mean that all 17 ERCs would cease to exist and student and research funding would stop.

Current Education and Research Centers

• University of Alabama at Birmingham
  University of Alabama at Birmingham
  The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
  
   & Auburn University
  Auburn University
  Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
  
   -Deep South Center for Occupational Safety & Health
• University of California, Berkeley
  University of California, Berkeley
  The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
  
  
• University of California, Los Angeles
  University of California, Los Angeles
  The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
  
  
• University of Cincinnati
  University of Cincinnati
  The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
  
  
• Mountain & Plains ERC
  Mountain & Plains ERC
  The Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center is one of seventeen Education and Research Centers funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health...
  
   in Colorado
• Harvard School of Public Health
  Harvard School of Public Health
  The Harvard School of Public Health is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, which is next to Harvard Medical School. HSPH is considered a significant school focusing on health in the...
  
  
• University of Illinois at Chicago
  University of Illinois at Chicago
  The University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC, is a state-funded public research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, near the Chicago Loop...
  
  
• University of Iowa
  University of Iowa
  The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
  
  
• Johns Hopkins University
  Johns Hopkins University
  The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
  
  
• University of Michigan
  University of Michigan
  The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
  
  
• University of Minnesota
  University of Minnesota
  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
  
  
• Mount Sinai School of Medicine
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine is an American medical school in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, currently ranked among the top 20 medical schools in the United States. It was chartered by Mount Sinai Hospital in 1963....
  
  
• University of North Carolina
  University of North Carolina
  Chartered in 1789, the University of North Carolina was one of the first public universities in the United States and the only one to graduate students in the eighteenth century...
  
  
• University of South Florida
  University of South Florida
  The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...
  
  
• University of Texas
• University of Utah - The Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
• University of Washington
  University of Washington
  University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...