Graduate students in toxicology come from a variety of chemical and life science undergraduate backgrounds. The graduate program is designed to prepare students for positions in academia, government, and industry (for-profit and nonprofit) at the masters or doctoral level. Courses are selected in accordance with the research needs and career goals of the individual graduate student. These can be considered in three general areas, basic core courses, courses in toxicology, and those related to the area of research. Please see links to plans of study below. Upon completion of graduate education, toxicologists assume a variety of roles in academia, industry and government. These include basic research on mechanisms of toxicity, teaching, application of toxicology research to safety evaluation of both new and existing chemicals, and risk analysis to characterize and predict the potential of chemicals to produce acute and chronic illnesses in human populations.<br><br>Toxicologists are concerned with the hazards associated with chemicals encountered through occupational and environmental exposures including their occurrence as air and water pollutants. They are also concerned with risks resulting from the use of chemicals as pharmaceutical agents and food additives. In modern toxicology, emphasis is placed on understanding the mechanisms involved in the actions of toxicants in order to determine their relevance to human health. To accomplish these goals, studies are conducted using animal models at all levels ranging from whole animals to subcellular fractions as well as a large number of cell culture systems. Toxicologists are widely known to engage in forensic criminological investigation, but this is not the focus of this program.