Bucknell Engineers Create PPE for Local Hospitals

Rachel Michael '20 chose her major in biomedical engineering because she wanted to design medical devices that save lives. She didn't know then that she'd be crafting those designs even before she graduated, but Michael says everyone needs to do their part in a crisis, and she's doing hers.

Today, Michael is among around 25 Bucknell University students, faculty and staff helping to devise innovative solutions to address the critical lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health-care workers on the front line of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

"I feel like I have a responsibility to help doctors," says Michael, who is working on the project remotely from her home in Alexandria, Va. "This is why we chose to be engineers: to solve problems. I chose biomedical engineering so that I could help doctors and come up with innovative solutions to medical problems. We have a duty to help out, and I feel like this is exactly where I can help."

The Bucknell team anticipates delivering its first devices - a face shield and a tentlike structure for performing intubations - this week to area health-care providers, including Geisinger and Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg.

"Given the increase in cases of COVID-19 in our region, we're looking at innovative ways to help stop its spread while also keeping our front-line employees safe," says Dr. Aalpen Patel, chair of Geisinger's radiology department. "In addition to our internal efforts, we're fortunate to have great partners, like Bucknell University, to work with in helping to produce these much-needed supplies."

The group's face shield design builds on one that the Czech company Prusa conceived for doctors battling COVID-19 in Italy. It consists of a sheet of transparent plastic to shield the worker's face from airborne particles, which hangs from a 3D-printed forehead plate secured with an elastic band. In collaboration with engineers at Penn State University, the group is refining the design to make it easier to manufacture and more comfortable, as well as to offer greater protection from the virus.

Construction Specialties, a building products manufacturer in Muncy, Pa., that has partnered with the College of Engineering on student design projects, donated enough plastic sheets for the team to make 3,000 shields. Engineering alumnus Chuck Boldt '72 has also offered financial support for the project.

The group plans to trim those plastic sheets to the proper shape using laser cutters from Bucknell's makerspaces. The forehead plates will be 3D-printed both on campus and off, in the homes of faculty and student volunteers. To keep themselves safe, they'll maintain physical distancing during production at Bucknell's makerspaces by restricting access to one person at a time and allowing time for cleaning between shifts.

To view these students click here: https://bucknell.meritpages.com/achievements/Bucknell-Engineers-Create-PPE-for-Local-Hospitals/120435