Even though San Jose State had to transition online because of the coronavirus pandemic, industrial design students and faculty members took this opportunity to use their skills to help out health care workers.
Using 3D printers in the Calvin Seid Innovation Lab on campus, the three faculty members who have access to the lab began producing personal protective equipment like face shields to help medical professionals.
Josh Nelson, program coordinator of the industrial design department, along with John McClusky, an industrial design professor, and Jesus Hernandez, an instructional support technician, noticed that the healthcare industry desperately needed medical supplies because of COVID-19.
“The three of us decided that we want to pitch in,” Nelson said. “Initially we started printing the pieces for personal protective equipment for face shields . . . We’ve kind of expanded our effort out quite a bit since then.”
Word of the project quickly made its way to local hospitals, including Stanford Medical Center, which asked for 300 face guards. Nelson is handling requests from other hospitals in San Jose while he, McClusky and Hernandez work on producing the masks they need.
After the SJSU faculty received attention from media outlets like KRON4, students began reaching out to Nelson asking how they could help.
“I just got a bunch of students that just said, ‘Hey, I love that you guys are doing something. I’d love to help out,’ ” he said. “I just got the idea – let’s get these students going. We have a lot of students that want to work.”
Nelson recruited about 40 student volunteers to help aid those fighting the coronavirus. Each group is led by a professional mentor from the field and has separate goals, including producing face shields and figuring out how to keep respirators sanitized.
The teams are currently researching effective ways to produce equipment and come up with designs and mock-ups, all while working from home.
“You kind of have to become a scrappy designer and find different ways of achieving,” industrial design junior Diego Almaraz said.
Each student works remotely to coordinate, develop and design their assigned projects.
“My teams that are making face shields, they’re gonna make everything,” Nelson said. “They’re making actual face shields that they’re gonna put in a box, tape up and ship off to Stanford Medical . . . This is kind of like an ad-hoc way of putting a product together.”
In light of the unprecedented pandemic, Nelson said, industrial design students and faculty members are using it as an opportunity to gain experience and do good in the world.
“All designers have this motivation to make the world better,” Nelson said. “This is a chance for our students to really get their hands dirty, in a sense, and do something to make the world better.”
