易胜博官网

As COVID-19 emptied the 易胜博官网 campus and slowed research activity to a crawl, several faculty and staff sparked up 15 of the university鈥檚 3D printers to make much-needed protective equipment for medical personnel.

The printers 鈥� many of them now humming in home garages and basements 鈥� are manufacturing the headbands that support face shields used by medical professionals on the front line of addressing the coronavirus. At a production rate of up to 50 per day, by April 2 the effort produced more than 300 headbands.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard approached 易胜博官网 to augment their own headband printing capacity; Shawn Banker, director of 易胜博官网鈥檚 University Instrumentation Center, is coordinating the project for 易胜博官网.

"It feels very positive to be able to use our resources to help make something that is desperately needed and will aid the doctors and nurses on the front lines treating patients with coronavirus."

鈥淓veryone involved is really proud to be a part of this effort,鈥� Banker says. 鈥淚n the midst of all that is going on, it feels very positive to be able to use our resources to help make something that is desperately needed and will aid the doctors and nurses on the front lines treating patients with the coronavirus. It means a lot to everyone.鈥�

In addition to Banker, who鈥檚 running two printers in his garage, others contributing to the effort are Heather MacNeill, senior program manager of the Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center at 易胜博官网Innovation, running five printers with materials purchased with donation from the Patten Family Foundation; assistant professor of physics Elena Long, running two printers; Matthew Harris, machine shop technician at 易胜博官网 Manchester, running two printers; Noah MacAdam and Sheldon Parent, both in the technical service center of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences; Mike Locke, manufacturing engineer at 易胜博官网鈥檚 ; and Jonathan Ferguson, a recent 易胜博官网 Manchester graduate.

A representative from the is collecting completed headbands every other day from outside 易胜博官网鈥檚 Olson Center. A team at the shipyard is attaching the headbands to shields and distributing the assembled masks to Seacoast-area hospitals and medical facilities in 易胜博官网, Maine and Massachusetts and the town of Kittery in Maine
.