The project is led by Stefan Duma, the Harry Wyatt Professor of Engineering, who is the founding director of the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. Duma is working with Mike Goforth, Associate Athletic Director, Dr. Mark Rogers, chief medical officer for Virginia Tech Athletics, and Matt Hull, a Virginia Tech research scientist and CEO of NanoSafe, a local company specializing in nanoscale exposures. And the researchers are now looking at treating the face shields with a coating thats been developed by a Virginia Tech chemistry professor that has been found in labs to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 (The virus that causes COVID-19). Ongoing cross-disciplinary collaborations helped us mobilize quickly to develop a solution were proud to offer to our players, Duma added. We used readily available materials that are easy to assemble and compatible with equipment players are already using, Duma said.