WHEELING — West Virginia Northern Community College’s faculty and staff have been working around the clock using 3-D printers to produce personal protective equipment to aid in the battle against the coronavirus.

The community college’s employees have been utilizing 3-D printers in their makerspace to manufacture more than two-dozen N95 protective masks to ship to the West Virginia National Guard for statewide distribution to first responders and medical professionals, according to David Barnhardt, director of marketing and public relations for the college.

Barnhardt said the school shipped 25 masks this week, with many more to come. He said the school is printing mask “shells” on their 3-D printers and the masks can be sanitized and use replaceable filters.

Before the coronavirus even became a pandemic, two WVNCC employees, David J. Stoffel, an associate professor of computer information technology and division chair of STEM and business, and Julie Kloss, a librarian who helps oversee the college’s makerspace, began devising a plan to produce personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.

However, the National Guard reached out through the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission asking any colleges in the state with 3-D printers to come up with a prototype for N95 masks. Stoffel worked with colleagues in the state and Col. Todd Fredricks, West Virginia National Guard state surgeon, to develop an approved prototype to meet medical specifications. They will be shipping their first case of N95 masks this week.

“I was a little bit unsure in the beginning, but I have come to learn you either get scared or you lead,” Stoffel said. “We will keep producing these until they tell us not to. My hope is a large manufacturing company can take our prototype and mass produce them soon.”

Stoffel is currently working on a new mold that will enable the college to mass produce N95 masks more efficiently.

“Our employees did not hesitate to jump right in and utilize the technology we have at the college to assist in battling this pandemic,” WVNCC President Daniel Mosser said. “These are unprecedented times and they have shown extraordinary enthusiasm and innovation to do their part and I couldn’t be more proud.”