A research team at Waterloo Engineering has been awarded $800,000 in federal funding to develop compostable personal protective equipment (PPE) and antimicrobial coatings to help fight COVID-19.
Led by Michael Tam, a chemical engineering professor, and Kevin Musselman, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering, the team hopes to produce face masks and other PPE from natural rather than synthetic materials, and develop coatings and sprays to protect PPE and high-touch surfaces from contamination by the virus.
Michael Tam is a professor of chemical engineering.
The project was one of 79 at 52 institutions across the country announced today for almost $28 million in backing through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s Exceptional Opportunities Fund.
The fund was established to provide needed equipment for research related to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Canadian researchers and scientists are helping to protect our health and safety and are key to finding our way out of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Navdeep Bains, the minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a media release.
Tam is a University Research Chair and a member of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN). Also a member of WIN, Musselman won an Ontario Early Researcher Award in 2019.
Their proposal for an interdisciplinary research project was one of three University of Waterloo submissions selected for funding under the federal program.