Research Article: Preparing the Next Generation of Environmental Health Professionals: A Comparison between Costa Rican and United States Academic Programs

Specialized academic programs have developed over the last several decades to provide technical and managerial expertise to students anticipating careers as environmental health professionals. A challenge facing many of the graduates from these programs will be working with colleagues prepared in a variety of countries and cultures. A challenge facing environmental health educators is ensuring that their graduates have the necessary abilities to meet complex professional challenges, including the possession of leadership skills for addressing global-scale environmental problems. Through application of a survey, we sought to gain understanding of the preparation of environmental health students in Costa Rica and in the United States in terms of their (1) knowledge of key global environmental problems, (2) attitudes about the severity of specific environmental issues, (3) attitudes about the role of the environmental health professional, and (4) attitudes about skills needed to be successful as professional...