3D Printers at SUNY New Paltz Help Create Face Shields

With doctors and nurses in short supply, many businesses have pivoted from making their normal products to producing medical supplies.

The 3D printers used at the Hudson Valley Additive Manufacturing Center on the SUNY New Paltz campus are using their location to create face shields for doctors and nurses fighting the coronavirus.

In an article on the SUNY New Paltz website, Dan Freedman, dean of the School of Science & Engineering and director of the HVAMC, said "All of us at the Center are people who like to solve problems and invent things. We felt that this was an opportunity to make an important contribution to a local, national and even global health issue.”

Ulster County reached out to the program and in one day HVAMC’s Assistant Director Kat Wilson came up with a design for fast printing of 3D masks and got to work.

A small team, made up of Assistant Professor of Art Aaron Nelson and current students Highland resident Rachel Eisgruber, was able to get their first batch of 50 face shields delivered to Ulster County on March 23.

Since then, production has found the perfect flow and they are making up to 200 face shields each day at SUNY New Paltz. Freedman believes they can double that with "like-minded creators and inventors in the region."

The shields are provided for free thanks to donations from Central Hudson Gas & Electric and the NoVo Foundation, the College and HVAMC.

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