UConn Health Nurse Practitioner Marina Creed’s indoor air purifier project at the University of Connecticut Cross Campus continues to gain momentum and has even reached the White House.
Creed’s patient at UConn Health’s Multiple Sclerosis Center is one of those vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19. Motivated by her role as both a clinician and her parent, she last year launched a campus-wide public health initiative to introduce what are known as “Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes” into public school classrooms. It was started.
Boxes are simple combinations of readily available consumables that can be assembled in minutes. Box fans, pleated air filter panels, cardboard, duct tape, and other components add up to less than what it would cost to move to Washington, DC. In Washington, DC, Creed offered his DIY to members of the Biden administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). An air purifier by the UConn team and Hartford school kids.
On Sept. 9, she and Kristina Wagstrom, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Engineering at the UConn School of Engineering, visited a fifth-grade science class at the Noah Webster Microsociety Magnet School in Hartford, where they installed two DIY water filters. I gave a STEM class that included the assembly of
One, decorated in the school color red, stayed in the classroom. Already she had one, decked out as “Air Force One”, signed by Class, and scheduled to head to the White House the next day.
“It was a great opportunity for our team to showcase this important intervention by Hartford public school students to the Office of Science and Technology Policy and to present the team in the Office of the President with an Air Force One,” said Creed. says. “It was great to see his STEM classes come to life for the kids. The unit is located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and is expected to move into the West Wing for the President and First Lady to assess. It has been.”
DIY air filtration kits have been shown to be comparable to manufactured portable HEPA filters.
“It was great to see how excited the students were to work on something that had real impact,” says Wagstrom.
According to Creed, the UConn team’s research involves using state-of-the-art cloud-based air quality monitoring sensors to obtain key data that demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions in improving indoor air quality in real-world settings. It includes The sensor, called MODULAIR-PM, is provided by Quant-AQ, an air quality startup in Somerville, Massachusetts.
“The evidence is clear: Clean indoor air keeps students healthier and happier,” said Dr. Erica Kimmerling, Senior Advisor for Public Engagement at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The Air Force One air filter not only helps provide clean air to staff at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, it’s a great conversation starter that helps spread the word about how people can improve indoor air. Quality.”
Creed, along with Kimberly Placer, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Scripps Institute of Oceanography, for presenting the device to the White House OSTP, a leading advocate of the DIY Corsi Rosenthal intervention I am honored to Prather also serves as a scientific adviser to President Biden. Members of President Biden’s OSTP who received the gift were Kimmering, Dr. Georgia Ragdas, Senior Advisor for Biotechnology and Biodefense, and Dr. Stephanie Guerra, Assistant Director for National Security and Biodefense.
In the spring, the Office of Science and Technology Policy hosted a webinar titled “Cleaning the Air for COVID-19.” Creed sent her email to the office describing her indoor air filtration project, and in return she received an invitation to a 30-minute briefing. To wrap up her briefing, Creed, whose hometown is Washington, D.C., offered to bring a box that the school kids made in the community. Her response to it was a formal delivery invitation to the White House.
“We are humbled by the attention our work has received at the federal level. We hope our projects will lead to far-reaching improvements in public health through low-technology, low-cost, energy-efficient STEM projects.” I crave it,” says Creed. “I hope that private citizens like myself can adopt ideas inspired by direct patient care and continue to drive the realization of the vision I had that should be in every classroom in Connecticut. It’s heartwarming to know, if not nationally.It was great to know that there is federal support behind this initiative that we are working on.”
Support doesn’t just come from the federal government. In August, the UConn Foundation announced his 300,000-funded via cryptocurrency from Balvi, an investment and direct donation fund founded by Ethereum co-creator Vitalik Buterin, to support the Indoor Air Quality Initiative. announced a dollar grant. In May, Creed won his one of UConn’s 2022 Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Community Engaged Scholarship.
The filtration system is named after its creators, Richard Corsi, Dean of Engineering at the University of California, Davis, and Jim Rosenthal, CEO of Texas-based company Tex-Air Filters. Since last year, Creed has taken them to schools in Connecticut and worked to teach students how to make them as part of science and health classes.
Students at the Webster Magnet School were impressed when they helped create Air Force One.
“We made an air filter that helps remove germs and bacteria, which has been very helpful as many children contracted COVID earlier this year,” says 10-year-old Elijah Ruiz of New Britain.
‘It’s really amazing to be able to create something that can make such a difference with just a few items that cost only a few bucks,’ says Mia Lee, 10, from Manchester. .
“This could be life-changing for anyone and could cure many diseases like COVID,” says 10-year-old Nayeli Rockwell of East Hartford.
What about the idea that what they helped create and name would go to the White House?
“It’s not of this world,” says Nayeli.
“It’s crazy,” says Elijah.
“It’s really, really cool because Joe Biden is our president,” Mia says.
UConn Intercampus Collaborators for the Indoor Air Quality Initiative include UConn Health and its Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center, UConn School of Medicine and its Department of Public Health, UConn School of Engineering, UConn School of Nursing, Connecticut Area Health Education Center Network (CT AHEC), and UConn Neag School of Education.
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