Prof. Herek Clack Appointed to National Academies’ Standing Committee on Personal Protective Equipment
U-M CEE Associate Professor to Contribute Expertise in Airborne Aerosol Protection and Respiratory Safety Innovation
Congratulations to CEE’s Associate Professor Herek Clack for his appointment to the Standing Committee on Personal Protective Equipment (COPPE) convened by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM).
COPPE, sponsored by the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NPPTL), seeks to facilitate discussion of scientific and technical issues relevant to the development, certification and use of personal protective equipment, standards and systems that ensure workplace safety and health. Clack was nominated to serve on the committee due to his work at the University of Michigan, where he focuses on reducing the environmental and health impacts of airborne aerosols, and his work at his startup, Taza Aya. At Taza Aya, Clack has worked to pursue novel approaches to respiratory protection in order to protect wearers from airborne infectious pathogens and create a new standard for future iterations of respiratory protection products. Clack’s work with respiratory protection products at Taza Aya includes the development of a wearable air curtain projected from the brim of a hat with the ability to remove and kill 99% of airborne viruses in farm and laboratory settings.
As a member of the committee, Clack will join other researchers and professionals to meet with the NPPTL several times a year in order to learn about existing conditions and issues related to personal protective technology and define prospective activities — such as studies or analysis of respiratory protection, sensor systems, and other technologies — to be conducted at the National Academies.
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Mason Hinawi
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Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering