Interests: Occupational health intervention research. Exposure assessment. Indoor air quality. Built environment. Pesticides. Healthy Home Initiative. Green Chemistry.
Projects
As a Co-Director of the Northwest Center for Occupational Health and Safety, I focus on providing Region X with innovative, high quality continuing education for occupational health and safety practitioners and for their employers and workers. Our program maintains longstanding partnerships with occupational and environmental professionals and associations in the Pacific Northwest to meet the training needs of the region. With our continuing education team, I also lead the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center that serves thousands of safety professionals in Region X to provide engaging standards-based, OSHA-authorized training designed to prevent and reduce workplace injuries and illnesses. Recent programs and activities available on our blog: https://deohs.washington.edu/nwcohs/about/blog
With interest and expertise in programs involving emerging chemicals and processes, I recently received a University of Washington Earthlab Innovation Grant to bring together a multidisciplinary team to work with the food truck industry to promote best cleaning practices and technical assistace. During the past five years, I also served as a co-investigator of Education and Outreach for the Molecular Design Research Network, a multidisciplinary research team led by Yale University that focuses on the rational design of safer chemicals. As a current advisory board member of the Green Chemistry and Chemical Stewardship Certificate Program, I work with faculty and industry experts to develop green chemistry curriculum content and educational assessments. I also served as a co-investigator of a multiyear grant entitled “Green Cleaning: Exposure Characterization and Adoption Process Among Custodians”, funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and National Institute of Environmental Health and Safety.
Most recently, Ms. Simcox increased student engagement with University of Idaho faculty to integrate a virtual reality training module into curriculum of courses of the Pacific Northwest OSHA Education Center.
Recent publications:
Krenz J, Simcox NJ, Stoddard Tepe J, Simpson CF, Transitioning to Safer Chemicals in Academic Research Laboratories: Lessons Learned at the University of Washington. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Published Online: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b00926
Lasker GA, Mellor KE, Simcox NJ, Green chemistry & chemical stewardship certificate program: a novel, interdisciplinary approach to green chemistry and environmental health education. Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews. Published online: https://doi.org/10.1080/17518253.2019.1609601
Lasker GA, Simcox NJ, Mellor KE, Mullins ML, Nesmith SM, van Bergen S, Anastas PT. Introducing Toxicology into the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory Using Safety Data Sheets and Sunscreen Activities. Journal of Chemical Education. Published online: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00408
