URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

WHATS INSIDE

URI’s COVID-19 Response: Research and Innovation THE RHODE ISLAND VENTILATOR PROJECT As ventilators were in short supply during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, a team of volunteers at the University of Rhode Island put their connections, skills, time, and energy into addressing the needs of the medical community and those stricken by the virus.

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CRITICAL THINKING AND EXPERTISE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

URI faculty and students put their research to good use to address the problems they faced when helping convert CPAP and BiPAP machines to help patients breathe.

URI DEVELOPS A NEW CORONAVIRUS TEST A team of researchers at URI, the RI Department of Health, and Thermo Fisher Scientific are developing a COVID-19 saliva test that improves upon the accuracy, accessibility, and ease of use, while providing faster results at a lower cost than current tests.

BREATHING INNOVATION INTO THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC

With a need for ventilators in spring of 2020, Assistant Professor of Ocean Engineering Brennan Phillips and his students used 3D printing to design and produce a Y Splitter, enabling multiple people to safely breathe using only one ventilator. WHEN LEARNING GOES VIRAL The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the way millions of students are educated and offers a snapshot of how education may continue to evolve in the long term. Faculty were faced with converting months’ worth of careful in-person lesson plans and programming to a virtual medium. URI is taking strides to champion innovations in education in a post- coronavirus world. RHODE ISLAND RAPID SOLVERS URI professors and students collaborated with medical experts, community partners, and non profits to develop face shields using 3D printers and unused supplies from dozens of offices around campus. FEEDING RHODE ISLAND’S SENIOR CITIZENS As the spring semester transitioned to online learning, URI Dining Services had a semester’s worth of food and nobody to eat it, that is until the Rhode Island Office of Healthy Aging reached out to URI about pooling their resources to help feed Rhode Island senior citizens. THE RHODE TO HEALTH URI’s Mobile Health Unit was created to serve underrepresented populations by providing HIV testing and assistance with the state’s opioid epidemic. During the pandemic the team switch gears to safely administer COVID-19 services and testing. 75 YEARS OF NURSING FROM THE FOUNDING OF OUR NURSING SCHOOL TO SERVICE DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC The URI College of Nursing has transformed since its inception 75 years ago. From practicing injections on oranges, to preforming cutting edge research today, to assisting during the COVID-19 pandemic, URI nurses are making a huge impact in health care.

Momentum Momentum Research & Innovation

Cover Photo: Erik Brine, Air Force colonel, and executive director, National Institute for Undersea Vehicular Technology, volunteers for the ventilator project in the URI Memorial Student Union Ballroom.