Monica Mateo has been awarded the first Marton Technologies Industrial Hygiene Scholarship at Old Dominion University. The Marton Scholarship was generously established by Jacqueline Walton and Dawn Kriz, both ODU alumni, to benefit up and coming industrial hygienists in the ODU Environmental Health program. Each year students submit essays explaining their future goals in safety and health and are awarded a $1000.00 scholarship. This is the first year since establishment that they have been able to award the scholarship.

Monica will complete her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Health, with an emphasis in Industrial Hygiene and Safety, in Summer 2018. She is an active duty Navy Dental Hospital Corpsman, working her way through college while holding down a full time military job. She was born in Bogota, Columbia and first pursued a degree in chemical engineering. That degree introduced her to environmental health issues. She explained that her transition to the United States and a new language was challenging, but joining the Navy and serving her adopted country was the right thing for her to do. While stationed in Norfolk, VA, she decided to undertake a second degree at ODU in Environmental Health. She is working part-time on her internship with the Portsmouth Naval Hospital Industrial Hygiene branch observing and conducting IH surveys. Monica has a true passion for all things safety and health, and with her military leadership skills and experience, and her dedication to duty, this is one student we know will succeed.