Early in the pandemic, people were made aware of the shortages of medical-grade personal protective equipment. Our team wanted to find a way to help, so we came up with multiple ideas on how we could give back to our community through the PPE. One of our students proposed a simple and safely-manufacturable face shield concept alongside a list of materials, and after a design and materials review by our mentors, the plan was put into action. During that time, the student reached out to UCLA and coordinated a drop-off location, in addition to the other details regarding the sanitization, assembly, and usage of the shields. While waiting for the materials to arrive, we wanted to continue contributing through other means. We got in touch with the “SoCal Makers COVID Response Team”, an initiative where multiple Southern Californian high school robotics teams and college engineering students came together to engineer and manufacture personal protective equipment for hospitals. We financially contributed\ to the initiative, and continued on our mission to help. The materials arrived and were transported to the student’s home, where he prepared, sanitized, and assembled them all into almost fifty face shields. Soon after finishing, he headed to UCLA to leave the shields with their new owner, who would redistribute them to the doctors on the front lines.
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