For
Rackham
student
Stephanie
Pistorius,
living
on-campus with her husband
during the time of COVID-19
has been full of uncertainty.
She said she was not prepared
for the impact on lab research,
though she had been following
the news in the weeks leading
up
to
the
University
of
Michigan’s announcement of
the cancellation of in-person
classes.
“(The announcement) felt
focused
on
undergrads,”
Pistorius said.
However, with the pandemic
spreading, she mentioned how
not going into the lab for more
than six weeks will derail her
tentative graduation date.
“It’s something I’ve been
thinking about a lot lately,” she
said.
Pistorius works in a wet lab
that runs experiments with
cell lines and animals. The cell
lines can be frozen and picked
up once things go back to
normal, but the animals have
to be a certain age to conduct
experiments
and
require
her to go in periodically and
take care of them. Once the
University
announced
that
only critical lab work would
be permitted, Pistorius faced a
dilemma.
“It was like a daily struggle
of ‘Should I go in or should I
not go in?’” Pistorius said.
With the time she would
usually be spending in the
lab, Pistorius is catching up
on
data
analysis,
reading
primary research papers and
writing the introduction to her
dissertation.
“Hopefully this time I use
to catch up (on material) will
make me more efficient once
I’m back in the lab,” Pistorius
said.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, April 9, 2020
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
Graduate students struggle with confusion,
uncertainty as virus outbreak stalls research
PhD candidates face
unclear future as labs
respond to orders
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TECHNOLOGY
Opening kare’s website,
the
tagline
“because
sometimes
we
don’t
feel
our best” appears on the
homepage.
According
to
Business
junior
Bennett
Hilkert,
chief
executive
officer and a co-founder of
kare, this tagline outlines
the purpose of the company:
to help connect students via
an anonymous peer-to-peer
support network.
Team behind kare looks
to promote mental health
App to offer
support for
‘U’ students
Residents use 3D printers to make masks
AAPS teachers, AADL staff pool resources to address shortage of medical equipment
Several Ann Arbor engineering
teachers are aiding a campaign
called
Operation
Face
Shield
Ann Arbor, using 3D printers to
create face shields for medical
professionals on the front lines
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Robert Cupit, a teacher at Ann
Arbor Public Schools, said he came
across
a
video
announcement
from fellow teacher Bill Van Loo
explaining how AAPS engineering
teachers were creating 3D-printed
face shields to donate to medical
professionals. He had access to a 3D
printer through the school system
and decided he wanted to help out.
The time it takes to create a mask
varies, but Cupit said his machine
takes about two-and-a-half hours.
In an email to The Daily, Cupit
explained how the process works.
“I personally have 8 spools of
filament, which is the material the
3D printers use to print,” Cupit
wrote. “I can make approximately
22 shields per spool so 176 shields
total. We have approximately 9
people working on the project with
3 distribution hubs. Each person
has about the same amount, if
not more material than I do. We
are going to print as many as we
possibly can with the time we have.
The issue with scaling up is that
once we run out it is very difficult
to get more filament with all of this
going on.”
Cupit and other AAPS teachers
are working to make any personal
protective equipment that they feel
will help the medical professionals
fight off the coronavirus pandemic.
The AAPS teachers are asking for
support
through
a
GoFundMe
page.
“We have a lot of masks to print
and not a lot of time to make them,”
Cupit wrote. “People needed them
last week and we just can’t keep up
with the demand. The advantages
of 3D printing are definitely cost
and usability. You don’t have to be
an engineer to use this equipment.”
See APP, Page 3
VARSHA VEDAPUDI
Daily Staff Reporter
DESIGN BY CARA JHANG
See MASKS, Page 3
BRAYDEN HIRSCH
Daily Staff Reporter
IULIA DOBRIN
Daily Staff Reporter