Wantagh STEAM Teacher Helps 3D Print Face Masks

WANTAGH, NY – Wantagh Public Schools STEAM teacher Kaitlin Humphrey is assisting with the production of 3D printed face masks for Stony Brook University health care personnel on the front lines of the new coronavirus by putting her technology and engineering skills to the test.

Humphrey got 3D printers from the schools district and the templates for the essential mask parts from SBU iCreate Director and informational technology professional David Ecker, according to a post on the Wantagh schools' website. With the printer and the design template, volunteers can assemble and distribute the supplies to medical workers in order to protect them from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

Ecker's goal was to create 5,000 masks through partnership with Suffolk County libraries and schools.

For Humphrey, the mission was a deeply personal one. Her mother is an emergency department nurse at Huntington Hospital and her father has been tasked with managing the construction of a temporary field hospital at State University New York at Old Westbury, according to the Wantagh Union Free School District website.

"We (the district) have the technology, so why not put it to good use?" Humphrey said in a prepared statement on the school's website. "It's doing no good sitting in a locked down school. It's the least I can do to support everyone outside of my bubble."

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