Together, NJIT Makes a Difference

The NJIT community is rallying together to help those on the front lines during this global pandemic. Members of the community - including engineers, physicists, advanced manufacturing specialists and students - have pitched in to design, create or donate to the cause.

NJIT Makerspace

The NJIT Makerspace has designed and produced a reusable face shield to be used by healthcare workers. The front of the mask is a long piece of clear polycarbonate plastic, while the frame is made from HDPE plastic – the material used in plastic milk bottles – which pathogens have difficulty clinging to. The shield covers most of the face and is held in place by a strap. It can withstand even industrial-grade cleansers.

Greg Tanis

Tanis, a mechanical engineering student, has produced over 800 face shields following CDC guidelines and used marine-grade vinyl, industrial tape, foam and elastic to create the masks. The shields are being sent to local North Jersey hospitals and Tanis plans on increasing production.

Laura Gould

Gould is an architecture student and an Albert Dorman Honors Scholar, who has produced 100 cloth masks for Mt. Sinai hospital in NYC. Since her first donation, Gould has increased production and donated over 300 more masks to local hospitals. 

Constantine Baltzis

Baltzis, a third Honors student who is part of both the NJIT and Lyndhurst EMS squads, and Tarcisio Nunes, an Honors alum and captain of the Lyndhurst EMS squad, approached the college for help with PPE. The face shield and mask produced by the students were approved by the squad’s medical director and will be manufactured for use by their first responders.

Gabe Levin

Levin, a mechanical engineer created a ventilator filter design with the help of his robotics and data lab professor. The ventilator filter is needed by many hospitals and can easily be rapidly manufactured with CNC or 3D printing. The NJIT Makerspace is currently 3-D printing Levin’s filter design to donate.

GlydeApp

GlydeApp is a NJIT-based startup out of VentureLink. The team at GlydeApp has donated 1,500 N95 masks to distribute to local NJ hospitals.

Tangible Creative

Three NJIT students are working at a Newark-based startup, Tangible Creative. They have been working to produce face shields that have been sent to New York-Presbyterian Hospital. 

NJIT Physicists

NJIT physicists John Federici, Ian Gatley and their team are developing a swab that will be used in a study at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences that seeks to characterize facts related to viral transmission and disease severity in a large healthcare system.

NJIT Labs

In the early days of the regional surge in coronavirus cases, researchers emptied their closets of hundreds of gloves, goggles and gowns to donate to the Essex County Office of Emergency Management. 

NJIT fabricators are collaborating with researchers, students, and other members of the community to come together a make a difference in the fight against COVID-19. 
Dean of the Newark College of Engineering Moshe Kim said, “as long as this crisis continues, the Makerspace at NJIT will be fully dedicated to the design of prototypes, making and testing of these prototypes, and delivery of ready-to-manufacture designs of needed devices to industry."