YPG

Paul Joseph Blanchard, a sophomore in plastics engineering, Grace Truong, a freshman studying nursing, and Yeaharne Hout, a sophomore in finance and DifferenceMaker intern found a problem taking place during the COVID-19 crisis. The problem was that clinical facemasks cannot be re-used safely, and they create a massive amount of waste due to their single-use properties.

YPG won the $4,000 Significant Social Impact prize at the 2020 DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge. This team plans to use their winning funds to further develop a prototype of their solution. Their proposed solution is a face covering that is both reusable and eco-friendly and consists of biodegradable components to help reduce waste. This solution can be used during pandemics and crises, and also during everyday use in the health field.