Dr. Daniel B. Oerther, professor of environmental health engineering, co-authored an article recently published in Nursing Outlook, the journal of the American Academy of Nursing. The article is titled “The Nurse+Engineer as the Prototype V-Shaped Professional.”

Oerther wrote the article with Dr. Mary Ellen Glasgow, dean and professor of the School of Nursing and vice provost for research at Duquesne University. The article defines the nurse+engineer using examples of transdisciplinary collaborations between nurses and engineers at the bedside and in the community. The nurse+engineer concept uses convergence research to solve complex societal problems such as environmental determinants of health, including climate change, as well as social determinants of health, including social justice issues.

For his extensive collaborations with nurses, Oerther is the first engineer to be inducted as a lifetime honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a lifetime honorary Fellow of the Academy of Nursing Education of the National League for Nursing, and a lifetime honorary member of the honor society of nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.