SUNY Campuses Combat with Covid 19 Outbreak!
While the number of Covid-19 infections globally has continued to rise at a rapid clip, New York State also continues to combat the spread of coronavirus, or COVID19, and SUNY is playing a big role in those efforts. Following the New York governor’s lead, Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger has called on his faculty and staff to use their resources, skills, and ingenuity to come up with strategies that would be of most help in this time of need. Faculty at the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science are working on a variety of prototypes for ventilator adapters that would allow one ventilator to treat multiple patients. Including one that would potentially serve six patients.
Fuda Ning and Jia Deng, both assistant professors in the Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, are working with Lourdes Hospital and UHS to design and 3D-print ventilator adapters that will allow more than one patient per machine if necessary.
Another development is occurring within the Department of Biomedical Engineering, led by Professor and Department Chair Kaiming Ye. There faculty members have completed a prototype of an N95-like mask using a 3M electrostatically charged filter that is capable of capturing viruses, and they also have a design for sterilizing N95 masks using ultraviolet light.
Vince Brady, the Watson School’s manager of engineering laboratories and learning environments is leading a plan to produce full-face shields. Contributing to the prototype are Schiffres, Deng, Mark Poliks; director of the Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing, Benson Chan; associate director of the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center and others.
The campus is expected to produce 300 to 400 face shields each day and will ship them to Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital for assembly.
To read more about Binghamton University's important contributions to combating the Covid19 outbreak: https://www.binghamton.edu/news/story/2329/covid-19-watson-school-donates-medical-supplies-designs-ventilator-parts-and-face-shields
SUNY New Paltz, The Hudson Valley Additive Manufacturing Center has partnered with the local community to create 3D printed face shields that are desperately needed by healthcare workers and those on the front lines of the pandemic. To read more: https://sites.newpaltz.edu/news/2020/03/3d-printers-at-hvamc-construct-face-shields-to-fight-coronavirus/
Stony Brook University, the iCREATE lab also had a 3D printer and the desire to make face shields. The question was how. Working with his team, iCREATE Director David Ecker realized they could use door insulation material from Home Depot for the forehead cushion, elastic from Jo-Ann’s Fabric and Craft store, and plastic sheets like those found in a folder from Staples. The iCREATE lab is now working on procuring materials to produce 5,000 face shields in all. Stony Brook plans to deliver 100 face shields to the hospital each day.
In the spirit of collaboration, engineers and scientists at all three campuses as well as University at Buffalo, SUNY Poly, and SUNY Canton have been sharing designs and ideas.
University at Buffalo plans to make 25 face shields a day, while SUNY Canton will make 20. Meanwhile, SUNY Poly in Albany plans to produce 400 face shields a day. SUNY Poly’s Utica campus plans to ramp up to 1,000 a day when a lab with the capacity to cut plastic re-opens. Soon, the campuses collectively make more than 600 face shields each day, for local hospitals or state reserves.
Together, all of our SUNY schools are making an immeasurable impact on New York’s efforts to combat the COVID19 coronavirus.