Victor Argueta-Diaz is doing his part.
As a scientist he’s using science to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Alma College assistant professor of physics has been making Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for mid-Michigan healthcare institutions in recent weeks to help the fight versus COVID-19.
As it stands Argueta-Diaz has been making face shields and mask extenders at Alma College via its 3D printing equipment. On average he makes about 35 mask extenders daily and about 15 face shields and would like to make more, yet 3D printers aren’t designed for that kind of thing. Both the mask extenders and face shields have been distributed locally in mid-Michigan.
“It feels good to be able to help out and do something,” said Argueta-Diaz, who’s also the pre-engineering coordinator in Alma College’s applied physics in engineering science and pre-engineering programs. “I saw some people coming up with solutions and I felt like I could do that too.”
So, he did.
His initial inspiration came from seeing a news story that spoke of how there was a national shortage of N95 face masks, masks that filter out 95-percent of airborne particles. While reproducing N95 masks wasn’t possible via a 3D printer, it got the ball rolling.
In speaking with friends in the healthcare field Argueta-Diaz settled on making face shields and mask extenders.
“The mask extenders are a game changer to save our ears from getting torn up by the loops on the masks,” one person commented on the Alma College Facebook page. “That you so much!”
In the past 12 months Alma College’s Dow Digital Science Center added new 3D printers and a 3D scanner. Now there being used on the frontlines.
“This past semester, I was teaching a class in digital fabrication and fast prototyping. Originally the final project was to build an artifact that would help someone with some kind of physical disability. When classes went online, I gave the students the option to change the project to design a face shield. I hope students realized there are very real applications of the skills they learned during this semester,” Argueta-Diaz said in a press release.
