Chieftain Published Article About NMT Effort To Make Hand Sanitizer
June 5, 2020
El Defensor Chieftain reporter John Larson wrote a featured news article about the ongoing project in the NMT Biology Department to make hand sanitizer. Larson interviewed Dr. Snezna Rogelj and Dr. Danielle Turner, who are spearheading the large-scale project. So far, they have made hundreds of gallons of hand sanitizer that has been distributed across the state.
Here is an excerpt of the article. Click the link at the bottom of the page for the full article.
By John Larson/El Defensor Chieftain
It started as a modest undertaking by New Mexico Tech biologists to supply the campus with enough hand sanitizer for all students, faculty, and staff. That was in March, and by the first week of June, hundreds of gallons have been produced.
The New Mexico Tech hand sanitizer crew is (from left) Biology Professor Snezna Rogelj, post-doc Dr. Danielle Turner, student Eric Bartlett, Department Specialist Vanessa Quiñones. In front is student Ida Hernandez.
“We’ve ramped it up,” research scientist Dr. Danielle Turner said. "In the beginning, we had first started making it for New Mexico Tech and were hoping to distribute to the Socorro community. As of Friday, we have distributed to half the state of New Mexico. And into Arizona.”
To meet the need, 733 gallons of the sanitizer have come out of New Mexico Tech’s Biology Department lab, using a specific formula developed by the World Health Organization.
When Turner found she was running low on the needed chemicals sooner than expected, another Tech body stepped up; Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center.
Click here for the full article