Image: Nathan Hales, a Data Science major, is a recipient of a CURO Research Assistantship for Spring 2021. This award includes a one-semester stipend of $1000 to conduct faculty-mentored research. As a CURO Research Assistant, Nathan will investigate the efficacy of face masks for filtering expelled droplets during conversations, under the guidance of Drs. Abhyuday Mandal and Suraj Sharma (Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Interiors). With the spread of the coronavirus, face coverings were suddenly in high demand, which led many people to create face masks of their own to use in public. Nathan will test the efficacy of these homemade masks to see how they compare to the surgical and professionally made masks (N95). The research will be an experiment, repeated several times for each face covering. It will consist of a green laser running through a dark enclosure, with a speaker speaking into the dark enclosure. A camera will capture the scattering particles of light as the speaker speaks into the beam of light running through the enclosure. A computer program will then analyze the footage to determine the number of droplets dispersed from the speaker. An analysis can then be done on the results of the experiment to determine the efficacy of different face masks. Nathan will present his research at the Spring 2021 CURO Symposium to be held in April. Type of News/Audience: Departmental
