HSD News

As part of a National Science Foundation-funded program, six University of Arizona undergraduates from populations underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math fields—women, first-generation college students and individuals from racial and ethnic minorities—will spend the next year researching the behavior of sound waves and working with mentors as they prepare to pursue related careers and graduate degrees.

The rapid spread of the novel coronavirus and resulting COVID-19 disease has put University of Arizona's creative makers in a position to help. The local critical need for personal protective equipment is being addressed by a ready team of innovative designers willing to gear up for large-scale production.

What if a nursing student interested in improving quality of life for senior citizens could be put on a team with an engineering student and a computer science student? And what if instead of spending just 16 weeks getting their feet wet on the topic, they could help usher a project into existence semester after semester, watching it slowly unfold from start to finish?

In the fall, students will be able to dive headfirst into design thinking, a creative process for solving real-world problems.

The School of Information, or iSchool, in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences is filled with doers, thinkers, and solvers. Two faculty in the iSchool – Peter Jansen and Win Burleson – are lending their expertise in makerspaces and their background in inventing to the essential task of creating the protective and medical equipment needed to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 100 faculty, staff and health care professionals from the University of Arizona and connected Tucson facilities are joining together to manufacture personal protective equipment for local hospitals in need. As the national stockpile of personal protective equipment ran dry, Kasi Kiehlbaugh, director of the UA's Health Sciences Design Program organized the "AZ Makers Fighting COVID-19" online group.

Even though the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA) Building at the University of Arizona has been closed since mid-March, Materials Labs Manager Paulus Musters has been hard at work in CAPLA’s state-of-the-art Materials Labs.