APSU’s GIS Center hopes to produce 3D-printed respiratory face masks in addition to face shields
(Posted April 8, 2020)
While still leading a statewide effort to produce face shields for medical workers battling the spread of coronavirus in Tennessee, Austin Peay’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Center has taken on another potentially life-saving project.
The center’s staff and its students have developed and are testing prototypes of 3D-printed respirator face masks for frontline medical personnel. The center’s director, Mike Wilson, thinks that despite the challenges of producing a respirator with the proper filtration, the center soon will have a mask it can produce and send to medical workers.
“Unlike the shield, a mask has more medical requirements including fit/comfort and filtration ability,” Wilson said. “A proper mask will provide a tight seal on the face and filter small particles (I believe 0.3 microns for viruses).”
The GIS Center is looking for available materials to use as the filter in the masks.
“This is difficult due to the filtration needed, as well as the supply,” Wilson said. “We’re trying to come up with a mask that acts like an N95 (respirator) mask.”
The respirator masks also take longer to print than face shields, he said, presenting another problem in producing them in a fast-moving crisis.
Leading statewide effort to produce face shields
When Gov. Bill Lee asked colleges and universities how they might help make protective equipment for health care workers, President Alisa White asked if the GIS Center could answer the call.
“I’m not a medical professional, but I am a technology person, and if we can use technology to assist, we need to do that,” Wilson said. “I had a heart attack in November, and a doctor saved my life. If I can help them out and pay that back, I want to go ahead and do that.”
One of the center’s students, Michael Hunter, designed and built a 3D-printed prototype shield, and Brig. Gen. Scott Brower, APSU military adviser in residence, delivered it to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) the next day.
The state sent the design to several colleges and universities across Tennessee, and they joined Austin Peay in a 24/7 operation to produce the face shields.
Austin Peay has led this effort from its genesis, and the GIS Center delivered its first shipment of face shields to TEMA on Wednesday, March 25.
As of Monday, April 6, the GIS Center has shipped 24 boxes containing 864 face shield frames and nearly 9,000 face shields to the TEMA, Wilson said.
Students step up to ‘help those who are protecting us’
In addition to the students who already work at the GIS Center, seven APSU students stepped forward to help with the effort. They are Ciara Grandberry, Elijah Henderson, Lakiyra Holt, Dacorian Lockhart, Brady Rhoton, Kenneth Shipley and Jonathan White.
“I saw on the news about what GIS was doing and I just had to be a part of it,” Holt, a biology major, said. “I wanted to help out because of all of the doctors, nurses, scientists who are risking their health for the world.
“Joining GIS could help protect those who are protecting us,” Holt continued. “My main concern right now is with those who are helping the sick get through this.”
To donate to the GIS Center
Donations can be made to the APSU GIS Center at www.givetoapsu.com/GIS or APSU GIS Fund of Excellence, P.O. Box 4417, Clarksville, TN 37044.
To learn more
- For more about the GIS Center, visit https://www.apsugis.org/.
- To learn more about the center’s staff, go to https://www.apsugis.org/about-us/.
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