Arts & Humanities
In recognition of academic, leadership, internship and service excellence, undergraduate Alexis Lupus receives unprecedented combination of awards from the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation.
By Mary-Ann Muffoletto |
USU undergraduate Alexis Lupus, shown operating a decibel meter in a USU lab, is the recipient of three national scholarships from the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation. The first-generation college student, who completed a three-month internship with SSR Mining at the Marigold Mine near Battle Mountain, Nevada, was recognized for her outstanding academic performance, professional activity and demonstrated leadership. (Credit: USU/M. Muffoletto)
Utah State University undergraduate scholar Alexis Lupus is the 2025 recipient of three of the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation’s top scholarship awards totaling $7,400.
The first-generation college student from Orem, Utah, was among about 60 undergraduate and graduate students selected for the foundation’s annual scholarships. Lupus, who is majoring in public health with an industrial hygiene emphasis, will be formally recognized during the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s 2025 AIHA Connect conference May 19-21 in Kansas City, Missouri.
“I am very humbled and, honestly, kind of shocked,” says Lupus, who graduated from Utah’s Pleasant Grove High School in 2020. “I’m just trying to stay focused on school and staying involved with USU’s industrial hygiene club. The scholarships are very much appreciated and the financial support is a relief.”
USU alum Randal Keller (Ph.D. ’88, Toxicology), who chaired the AIHF scholarship committee, said Lupus was especially competitive because of her outstanding academic performance, professional activity and demonstrated leadership, along with strong letter of recommendations from USU faculty and industry internship supervisors.
“Alexis ranked in the top three overall in the total pool of applicants, which included doctoral, master’s and bachelor’s degree students,” says Keller, an AIHA Fellow who recently retired from the faculty of Murray State University. “She was considered a top contender for the AIHF’s President’s Award, the top academic honor, but undergraduates are not eligible for this award.”
Lupus is the first USU scholar, and among the first in the nation, to receive the three AIHF scholarships simultaneously, which are the Debbie Dietrich Women in Industrial Hygiene Scholarship, the Monica Melkonian Memorial Scholarship and the Alice Hamilton Award Scholarship.
Lupus says she was unfamiliar with the industrial hygiene field, which is the science and practice of protecting the health and safety of people in the workplace, when she entered USU. Initially, she considered pursuit of high school science teaching.
“I’d had an interest in epidemiology since I was very young, and I thought teaching might be the only way to make this a career,” says the Aggie First Scholar. “At USU, I learned about the industrial hygiene program, which is one of only four ABET-accredited undergraduate programs in the nation. It really appealed to me and I have loved everything about the program.”
During summer 2024, Lupus completed her first industrial hygiene internship with SSR Mining at the Marigold Mine, an open pit gold mine near Battle Mountain in north central Nevada.
“Mining was an entirely new industry for me and I wasn’t sure what I was signing up for, but it was the coolest experience ever,” Lupus says.
Upon her arrival for the three-month internship, the USU scholar was surprised to learn her internship supervisor had departed on an earlier-then-expected parental leave of absence.
“I was immediately asked to prepare a sampling plan for silica, metal fumes and mercury exposures, and I was so grateful we’d covered this material in my USU classes,” Lupus says. “I dove right in and got to work. It was fascinating. I learned so much about mining and mining safety, and had a great internship experience.”
At USU, Lupus’ mentor John Flores, principal lecturer in the Department of Biology and its Public Health program, says the undergraduate has been an outstanding leader in the program, both as an officer in USU’s AIHA Student Section and, informally, among her peers.
“Alexis goes out of her way to help new students feel welcome and help them get involved with the student club,” Flores says. “She also organizes frequent study groups, which help her fellow Aggies feel included and helps them tremendously academically. She’s a natural leader and motivator.”
Lupus is currently preparing for a second summer internship; this time with the Bayer Chemical phosphate plant in Soda Springs, Idaho.
“I’m looking forward to this experience, which will introduce me to a new industry and new challenges,” she says. “The plant employs about 400 people, who are involved in processing locally mined phosphate ore to produce elemental phosphorus for fertilizers, steel production and other applications.”
Lupus says being involved in USU’s AIHA student section, along with the statewide Utah AIHA Section, and traveling to local industries for industrial hygiene field trips have been among the highlights of her undergraduate experiences.
“The IH faculty here at USU — John Flores, Carl Farley and Scott Bernhardt — are great,” she says. “They really want their students to succeed and bring us into the professional IH network with industry visits and lunch-and-learn events with outside speakers. They open doors to internships, professional contacts and outside opportunities in an exciting and rewarding career field that isn’t well known.”
Mary-Ann Muffoletto
Public Relations Specialist
College of Science
435-797-3517
maryann.muffoletto@usu.edu
John Flores
Principal Lecturer
Department of Biology
435-797-8194
john.flores@usu.edu
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