Graduate student Nick Durand makes several headbands for face shields simultaneously at The 8, a makerspace shared by DXARTS, the College of Engineering, and UW Housing & Food Services. Media credit: Dennis Wise/University of Washington

The emails started swirling in mid-March. Health care workers in Seattle desperately needed personal protective equipment (PPE) while treating COVID-19 patients, but there was a delay in receiving PPE from commercial sources.  After a local designer designed a face shield that could be produced on 3D printers, UW faculty and staff...