Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH)

August 10, 2023 • 2:00 p.m. ET

In this webinar, we heard about two projects that are improving environmental public health using mobile apps.

Steven Prince from the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development shared information about EPA’s Smoke Sense app. The Smoke Sense mobile app was designed to pilot a citizen science study about the impacts of wildfire smoke exposure on health.

Christopher Held with MetaMedia shared his experience developing a mobile learning gamification app. It combines 360-degree virtual reality with a new learning paradigm, “point-of-view learning,” and gamification training that is grounded in the assess, plan, implement, and evaluate (APIE) approach, an effective response process for hazardous material situations.

Experts

Steven Prince, Ph.D., is a behavioral scientist at the U.S. EPA Office of Research and Development in the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment. His research focuses on perceptions, behaviors, interventions, and impacts related to environmental exposures. These include air quality health impacts such as those related to wildfire smoke exposure, specifically as part of the Smoke Sense citizen science mobile phone application team. A related research area involves testing human participants both for the physical efficacy of various respirators and facemasks and also how they perceive exposure risks and the benefits of interventions. A goal across research topics is how to apply findings to best visualize, inform, and motivate people to take action and improve resilience to the many threats exacerbated by climate change.

Presentation Two: Engine Company 1 (Ec1) 360 Degree VR Training Prototype (1MB) 

Christopher Held, M.S., is an experienced education and training professional with over 25 years of working in the media production industry with expertise in learning management, educational technology, instructional design, and team building. Held serves as vice president of interactive multimedia education, training, and information systems at MetaMedia, and manages a team of senior instructional designers, video producers, graphic/animation artists, and programmers who apply creativity and best practices to create engaging eLearning courseware and mLearning applications. Held has produced multiple award-winning programs for MetaMedia clients and has directed the development of over 150 interactive training programs. Held currently sits on the Nova Southeastern University’s HazMat Training Advisory Board and recently served on the team conducting R&D on advanced interactive high-definition technology delivery methods for the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, National Library of Medicine.

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