Biography

[For more information: http://www.mlsoc.vt.edu/people/young/] Deborah Young’s educational endeavors have focused on industrial hygiene, public health, occupational safety, and engineering. While pursuing her graduate studies, she also was engaged in a full-time career in environmental, health and safety compliance, earning all three professional certifications in that field. Additionally, she was the sole proprietor of a real estate development and investment enterprise, through which she created a 300 acre residential subdivision. Through these various professional experiences, she gained practical experience in land development, building construction, project management, and building code compliance. Deb also served as an adjunct instructor in Industrial and Systems Engineering, designing curricula and teaching coursework in industrial hygiene, systems safety and occupational safety.

Her current interests involve innovative applications of technology to address construction occupational health problems. She is presently working with the Pervasive Computing Team at Virginia Tech, to develop wearable computing technology to monitor carbon monoxide exposures; on a project to develop new sensing technology for mold contamination in building materials; on a grant proposal to design new drywall sanding tools that are ergonomic and usable and to develop a marketing strategy to improve dust control in that industry; and a project involving structural equation modeling and geographic information systems (GIS) analyses of building performance and inhabitant health data. She is a member of the leadership team for the Center for Innovation in Construction Safety and Health at Virginia Tech and is an Affiliate Assistant Professor of the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Deb holds membership in the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, the Academy of Industrial Hygiene, and the American Society of Safety Engineers.

In her personal life, she enjoys riding bikes, climbing rocks, crawling through caves, diving with sharks, jumping from planes, and other, sundry, unsafe activities. Go figure :-]