The Moody Center for the Arts pivots to pandemic PPE production

The art center has been converted into a manufacturing center. Under the watchful eyes of Rob Purvis, the director of the workshop and makerspace at the Moody Center, the 3D printers are creating face shields for medical workers on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19.


“It’s awesome to be able to turn this stuff around, and to actually provide something of real, meaningful benefit,” Purvis said.


They’re aiming to print at least 5,000 face shields. For now.


It’s all part of Rice’s COVID-19 response team, a massive campuswide effort coordinated across departments from civil engineering to the arts. Pooling resources in this way and encouraging faculty and staff across campus to bring their individual strengths to the table, Purvis said, allowed him to ramp up production in less than a week.


“Being able to kind of funnel everything through one group is really the main benefit,” Purvis said. “It’s Rice as a whole community providing for its city and making the right decisions with the right people.


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