Highland graduate uses engineering skills to support healthcare workers

HIGHLAND - During the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, many healthcare professionals, first responders, and other essential workers have experienced a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). Highland High School (HHS) alumna Rachel Eisgruber, a mechanical engineering major at SUNY New Paltz, is doing her part to help alleviate the PPE shortage.

Eisgruber, an intern at the Hudson Valley Additive Manufacturing Center (HVAMC) at SUNY New Paltz, has been helping to assemble the face shields that are being manufactured at the center. She is also helping to maintain HVAMC’s 3D printing array, which is being used to produce the protective equipment.

The completed shields are being sent to facilities throughout the region, including the Nuvance Health COVID-19 testing center in Kingston, Woodland Pond Senior Living Community in New Paltz, Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, Ellenville Hospital, and the New Paltz Police Department. “We’re making approximately 600 to 700 a day,” said Eisgruber.

The shields, explained Eisgruber, are primarily made of PLA (polylactic acid) plastic, which is starch-based and biodegradable. “The part that touches the face and the part in the back are PLA with rubber bands to connect the two pieces,” she said. “There are also a few made out of ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic.”

Eisgruber, who is busy completing the coursework she needs in order to graduate in May, nevertheless jumped at the chance to help out during the current crisis. “I have family and friends who feel like family in the healthcare industry, which is why it was particularly important to me that I do something,” she explained.

Eisgruber, who graduated from HHS in 2016, has periodically returned to her alma mater to share her knowledge of, and passion for, engineering. Before his retirement, Technology teacher Michael Watts would invite his former student into his classroom to explain how 3D printing works, and to discuss some of its many applications. “I would also help him to figure out the proper settings for the 3D printer that he had in his class,” Eisgruber said. She also visited English teacher Josh Tatum’s class, where she talked about her final project for her computer-aided design course, relating it to one of the students’ assignments.

It was Watts, Eisgruber said, along with High School Math teacher Charles Witte and Physics and Calculus teacher Chris Cozzilino, who helped her realize that engineering was a viable career choice for her. “Mr. Witte and Mr. Cozzilino helped me believe that I was smart enough to be an engineer,” she said. “My family also has a few mechanical engineers, so I was pre-exposed to it before officially deciding that’s what I wanted to go to school for.”

Eisgruber was particularly attracted to mechanical engineering because she views it as a broad field with many possible career paths. “The diversity of mechanical engineering was particularly alluring,” she said.

The Highland graduate is proud that she has been able to play a role in HVAMC’s response to the current health emergency. “As I see how COVID-19 is impacting the community, I feel more and more honored that I am able to take part in this,” she said.