June 2022 – President’s Message
Greetings from the New Jersey Local Section of the AIHA ! I am your new NJ AIHA President for 2022 to 2023, its an honor to volunteer for and support such a great community of EHS professionals !
This year NJ AIHA is hosting the first all day in person North East Industrial Hygiene Conference, since 2019. We have a great team of Conference Committee members that are already assembling a fantastic program of speakers and topics. Mark your calendars, this Conference will be Friday December 2, 2022 at the Marriott Princeton Forrestal, 100 College Road East, Princeton, NJ.
We had our first in person meeting this month since 2019, at a new venue at the Stage House Tavern, 1099 Route 22 in Mountainside, NJ, where Alejando Ruiz Executive Director of EHS at Rutgers , gave a wonderful speech about all of the safety and industrial challenges he and his staff tackle at NJ’s largest University. It was also Scholarship Night, where NJ AIHA gave out scholarships to promising new students of Industrial Hygiene and related fields of study.
Many students have registered for he IH Virtual Summer Review course that has 14 sessions given by some of our best local professors and EHS professionals. They run weekly from June 7 to August 30, and the session is recorded for you to access anytime until the end of 2022 . Only four sessions have been given so far. Please view the topics and instructors – Its a great value at $150 , and you can still register at the following link:
http://www.njaiha.org/events/njaiha-summer-review-course/
NJ AIHA runs on the expertise and exceptional work by Volunteers. We are searching for any one of our current 200 + members who are up to the challenge of continuing the legacy of our organization whose mission is to promote Industrial Hygiene and protect Worker Health. Although open to all, this is a certainly a great opportunity and career-enhancing experience for any of our young or mid-career level professionals, and will certainly position you well for advancing your career and increase your visibility in our EHS community as well as enhance your professional credentials and resume. NJ AIHA is seeking Nominees for Volunteers for the following executive committee positions : President Elect, Director of Publications, and Treasurer. You can also claim CIH CM points by serving on a local AIHA Chapter Executive Committee such as NJ AIHA. And do not worry about the leadership challenges, I can personally assure you that plenty of mentoring assistance is provided by all current Executive Committee Members, a number of whom have served in this President-Elect position, and have served in the other positions, for many years.
Finally, in addition to the in person December full day conference this year, we plan on having less virtual Speaker meetings, and more in person Dinner Meetings, with 2 speakers per meeting and CM points certificate provided, as we did before 2020, starting September 2022. We of course follow all State Covid and CDC Covid Guidelines and Protocols. Its an exciting time to attend these meetings and speeches, we have some openings for potential Speakers , if you have an interesting topic or story to tell related to industrial hygiene or workplace health and safety.
If you are interested in volunteering for our Executive Committee positions, or wish to give a speech at a NJ AIHA Dinner Meeting next season, please contact me at the email below.
Thank You, and Have a Great Summer !
Marc Vargas, CIH MPH
President, NJ AIHA
m.vargas.njaiha@gmail.com