On April 27th, Julie Seven Sage, a high school junior, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding her entry into the Xprize Competition. Julie wants to become a physicist and increase the public’s awareness of sciences and technologies. For her entry into the Xprize Competition, Julie designed and developed a new mask design to provide the needed comfort and safety for current Covid conditions. The mask is see-thru to allow facial expression to be seen. It has a squishy gasket to seal better and fit more comfortably on the face. There are some other features to enhance voice recognition while masked. The filter material is replaceable and can be a material of the wearer’s choice.
The new design mask can adapt to many facial features (beards) and facial shape varieties. It can be modified to allow feeding tubes. It has adjustable straps and head/neck bands that can come in colors. There are a number of patents in process that she is filing related to her new mask. Her in-depth work researching at her lab, @7sagelabs, has made her a mask info expert. She is sought after for information and advice on the internet, twitter and thru her lab.
The mask competition had 200 or so other competitors. The masks are not CDC/OSHA compliant at this time. 3M is a commercial supporter to the competition. Prototyping is still in progress and she will be developing the manufacturing partners as her prototype gets closer to completion. The versatility of the mask could make it useful in hospitals, construction and other applications.
A brief Q&A followed the presentation.