School Notes: School of Engineering & Applied Science
July/August 2020

Protecting health-care workers

The Coalition for Health Innovation in Medical Emergencies (CHIME)—which draws on expertise from across the university—rapidly came together to help provide health-care professionals the tools they need during the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has put a significant strain on the US health-care system and the availability of essential personal protective equipment for health-care workers. Organized by the staff at the Center for Engineering Innovation & Design (CEID), CHIME brings together engineers, physicians, nurses, and many others to identify the most crucial PPE shortages facing health-care workers—and then, find ways to increase those supplies. This includes expanding access to ventilators, respirators, and nasopharyngeal swabs. 

Researchers trade notes in data workshop series

The first HASTE Data Science Workshop series launched in March, bringing together researchers from numerous disciplines to present COVID-19–related research and discuss how members of the Yale community can contribute. The series was organized and is hosted by SEAS dean Jeffrey Brock, who also serves as dean of science in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The goal is to create collaborations between different fields of research and form a network of individuals to take on the problem of COVID-19 from multiple angles. Contact tracing, vaccine design, and data visualization have been among the topics discussed. 

Dangers of third-hand smoke

A team of researchers led by Prof. Drew Gentner, associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering, has shown for the first time that third-hand smoke—contamination from cigarette smoking that adheres to walls and other surfaces—can travel in large quantities into indoor, nonsmoking environments by way of humans. The research suggests that even if someone is in a room where no one has smoked, that person could still be exposed to many of the hazardous chemical compounds that make up cigarette smoke, depending on who else had entered the room or previously visited it. The results were published in Science Advances.