Knowing that health care workers need personal protective equipment and other supplies in the effort against COVID-19, faculty and staff at the Swanson School of Engineering organized a donation of supplies to UPMC.

The effort began when Carla Ng, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, contacted Associate Dean for Research David Vorp (pictured) to find out where she could donate her lab’s unused supplies. After contacting UPMC’s Clinical Laboratories with the idea, Vorp coordinated a donation.

“Once I saw the excitement and happiness that the idea brought to the laboratory staff, I knew that we needed to respond in a big way, so I sent the request out to our faculty and tried to get the request out to a wider group with some success,” said Vorp. “In the end, I was blown away by the response of my Pitt colleagues. It truly was humanity at its finest. It was Pitt at its finest!”

The effort collected five pallets of personal protective equipment, such as masks (including the much-needed N95 masks that protect against the virus), peroxide, sanitizers, eye protection and other supplies. The pallets were delivered to UPMC to be distributed to health care facilities in need.