Syracuse University schools and colleges are collaborating to print face shields that will protect health-care workers responding to community needs.
On March 17, Lynn Greenky, an assistant teaching professor in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ (VPA) Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, reached out to a few of her colleagues. Greenky saw a local news story about a Central New York firm that has made 3D-printing plans for a face shield available on its website. Budmen Industries, operated by Syracuse alumnus Isaac Budmen ’12, has offered a template and instructions to produce the shields, which provide crucial protection for health-care workers responding to COVID-19 cases.
Greenky asked if Syracuse University’s 3D-printing facilities could be put to work helping to produce the shields, and VPA School of Design director James Fathers immediately saw potential in the idea. On March 18, Fathers sent an email to Chris Prior, the director of fabrication shops for VPA, who routinely works with 3D printers while assisting with design. “As an industrial designer, I knew he could do this,” says Fathers. “And it flowed from there.”