5 STEM Innovations Created At Universities During The Pandemic

The COVID19 pandemic brought a whole new set of problems for the entire world that no one had ever thought about. However, as damaging the experience of this pandemic has been, research suggests that there is a potential silver lining, and it is up to the academic experts to see how it could be of help to the learners. The disruptions brought on by the COVID19 will produce some long-lasting innovations in one lofty corner of higher education that is graduate-level STEM programs.

According to experts of assignment writing services, STEM is an approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. With the help of STEM, students develop key skills, including problem solving and creativity. STEM is a broad term that groups together these academic disciplines. STEM is based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in an interdisciplinary and applied approach.

Before doing anything else, it is necessary to have a good look at the impact. On one hand, universities have reported that more than two-thirds of STEM research projects were delayed or discontinued due to the lockdown that resulted due to pandemic. However, businesses from across the STEM sector stepped up to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, and this is not the only way the industry has made a difference in the past year. This article discusses the 5 STEM innovations that were created at various universities during the pandemic and how they have played a critical role during this time.

VR Medical Training:

Due to lockdown and pandemics, like others, medical students, as well as the medical staff, were also facing a lot of problems. In response to the urgent need for medics, Oxford Medical Simulation, which uses virtual reality via headsets and screen-based simulations, is started to offer free use of its platform during the pandemic. Student nurses, medical students, and clinicians moving between departments could use the simulation to practice their skills and gain confidence in unfamiliar areas when they could not do it in person.

Enhanced Ventilator Production:

The corona pandemic increased the patient’s need for ventilators as this infection affects the lungs, and to facilitate breathing, ventilators are required. The need for ventilators increased almost 100 times, and this created a panic in the medical industry. Many companies have come forward and are building ventilators to meet the national demand to save lives. The tech company Dyson is working with The Technology Partnership, while sponsors of the Telegraph Stem Awards, engineering firm Babcock and automotive pioneers McLaren, have also jumped into the field. Babcock is working with German medical equipment firm Drügerwerk and McLaren with the Ventilator Challenge UK consortium to build ventilators to meet the ever-increasing demand.

3D-Printed Respirators:

The 3D-printing company Isinnova has been thinking out of the box and designed and printed some 100 parts for respirators in 24 hours after a local hospital in need ran out during the pandemic. Now the company is working with sports retailer Decathlon to adapt a snorkeling mask into an emergency ventilator mask to help people in these times of emergency.

Live Virus Tracking:

During this pandemic, more than 40,000 German programmers and software designers got together for a huge online hackathon in March, dubbed WirVsVirusHack, to come up with potential solutions to virus-related problems. It included tech designed to track the virus, boost communication between hospitals, test respirators and help farmers source help with the harvest. The main idea behind this coming together was to formulate ideas and solutions to deal with this virus the best way.

Sustainable Water Filters:

Contaminated water is the cause of almost 6,000 deaths every day, and 785 million people lack basic access to safe drinking water around the world. Wananchi UK has created a portable water filtration system that can run on solar power and purify freshwater or seawater. This innovation is expected to benefit thousands of people in various parts of the world.

Along with the innovations mentioned here, there have been many other STEM innovations during the past few months developed by geniuses in graduate schools. It has also been observed that 40% of the graduate schools increased their use of online and hybrid programs due to the lockdown and the need to main social distancing. So many universities and schools developed new positions to help with the remote course design and delivery that would help students perform better and keep them going with their research and innovations.