Safety, Health, and Wellness

  • Supply Drive - Ingredients to Make Hand Sanitizer

    The below message is being transmitted on behalf of Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon.

    **

    Hello UConn friends and colleagues,

    I hope that you all are staying safe and healthy during the current situation.

    I am making a request to the UConn community to help UConn aid in the State’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak.  For one of these efforts, we are soliciting you for donations for the ingredients to make hand sanitizer for vulnerable and needy populations. In particular we are looking to service senior living communities at no cost to them. We have delivered 200 bottles to a Mansfield senior living community and we have another 2 that are wanting them too (over 400 bottles). Since many of you work in science labs with the base ingredients of WHO recipes for sanitizer, we are soliciting for the following:

    • Lots of bottles (squeeze, pump, or spray... must be closable and easily dispensable. Glass or plastic acceptable, though glass must have pumps or sprays. 8 oz. or smaller preferred, up to 12 oz. accepted…there is a shortage of bottles on the market Right now, bottles are the limitation, so if you have good leads on bottles, we are eager to find a supply.
    • Isopropyl alcohol
    • Ethanol
    • Glycerin
    • Hydrogen peroxide
    • Gelation agents (alginate, carbomer (polyacrylic acid), guar gum, etc.)

    Anything you can provide would be helpful.  We will use WHO approved recipes for IPA and ethanol-based sanitizers.

    Since we are asking for chemicals, UConn EH&S will be coordinating all pickups and deliveries. Please email Noah Ferguson at noah.ferguson@uconn.edu and provide the following information:

    1. PI name and department
    2. What you can donate (quality, opened or unopened, etc.)
    3. How much can you donate
    4. In what volumes is it available (1 gallon jug? 55 gallon drum?)
    5. Is someone available to arrange for pickup with EH&S

    We may also need a few folks to help with bottling when we are stocked.  If you or others might be interested in helping us bottle and label, please let us know (email Noah Ferguson at noah.ferguson@uconn.edu) and give us your name and general availability.

    Questions on this effort can be directed toward me (Jeffrey.mccutcheon@uconn.edu) or Noah Ferguson.

    I appreciate your help in this!  Let’s see what we can do to help our local community.

    Regards,

    Jeffrey R. McCutcheon, Ph.D.
    Associate Professor
    Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
    University of Connecticut

    Executive Director, Fraunhofer Center for Energy Innovation 

    President, North American Membrane Society, 2018-2019

    Office Phone: (860) 486-4601

    Google Scholar Profile

    "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research"

    -- A. Einstein

     

     

     

    For more information, contact: Dr. Jeff McCutcheon at jeffrey.mccutcheon@uconn.edu