ACEP Adjusts to Remote Work

While most ACEP staff, faculty and students have started working from home to ensure social distancing and assist in flattening the COVID-19 curve, the team has started every day with a mandatory check-in meeting.

Through videoconference technology, the morning check-ins have allowed staff to remain in contact, get work and life updates, and share fun stories. The morning meetings, combined with an all-staff Google Hangouts chat room, are a great way to normalize our collaborative research as much as possible, keep up morale, and share the stories and work successes that we might have shared in person.

We are also working to see how we can redirect some of our resources from research to response. One thing ACEP is actively exploring with our local hospital is how we can provide engineering assistance to improve the safety of frontline medical or first-responder workers in the Fairbanks area. We are also working with educators to see how we can support distance delivery of curricula for K-12 students.

Nobody knows how long this remote work situation will last, but keeping creative engineering ideas flowing through fun, lighthearted, and informative meetings has been a great and productive way to start the day!

 

A photo of the Zoom screen taken from one of the morning ACEP check-in meetings.  Photo by Gwen Holdmann.