With the state-of-the art MTEC (Manufacturing Technology and Engineering Center) at Daley College closed to students for the semester, faculty decided to get creative – and help out during the COVID19 pandemic by making face masks with the tools they already had.

“We hated to see our 3D printers and laser cutters sitting unused, and we knew we could do some good” said David Girzadas, Dean of Manufacturing at Daley, whose students, along with all City Colleges students across the city, are learning remotely for the remainder of the Spring semester. Summer classes will also only be offered remotely.

Faculty brought the equipment home and started printing headbands for face shields in their spare time – while also teaching their normal course loads via remote learning instead of face-to-face. After some trial and error, they were able to create functioning headbands. Through a generous donation of 500 sheets of clear polyester from Stromberg Allen and Company and 3D printer filament from Granger, Daley faculty were able to put together complete facial masks to donate – to date, 60 face masks.

“I am proud of the efforts of our faculty and the collaboration of our faculty with industry partners. This demonstrates the positive impact of our manufacturing and engineering program at Daley College,” said Daley College president Janine Janosky.