News

New UAF-Designed Device Sanitizes Masks for First Responders

September 1, 2020

Rothman UV
Jeff Rothman trains Mindy Lagonegro, nursing supervisor for the Fairbanks Correctional Center, on how to use the UV disinfection unit built by the Geophysical Institute’s Electronics and Machine shops. UAF photo by JR Ancheta.

Ultraviolet light stops many pathogens in their tracks, a fact known for decades. Jeff Rothman has an old light box with a bank of long-wave UV bulbs he formerly used for making printed circuit boards. He recently thought of a new use for it during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I use N95 respirators (N95 masks) in my work, so I had a small supply to experiment with,” said Rothman, manager of the Electronics Shop at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. “There were others, particularly first responders, who were going to need them. I wondered if I could use that light box to disinfect and reuse the respirators.”

“Given the shortage of respirators, I could see there was going to be a problem,” Rothman said.

Read the full story by LJ Evans in UAF Cornerstone and in Alaska Business Magazine.