MSU Partners with UV Angel to Install Air-Cleansing Solutions

  • By Matt Jones
  • 03/18/21

Michigan State University has partnered with pathogen control technology vendor UV Angel to install UV Angel Clean Air units around the MSU campus. They have already been added to busy areas like the Olin Health Center and Wonders Hall, and they’re scheduled for installation soon in campus athletic facilities. The goal is to foster cleaner, safer environments for students and faculty as they return to campus during (and after) the coronavirus pandemic.

The technology uses ultraviolet light that can neutralize up to 99.99% of ambient bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the air or on various surfaces. It operates while spaces are occupied to eliminate potential infections at the immediate time and place of the potential contamination, before it gets the opportunity to spread. Originally developed for use in healthcare environments, the solutions can run continuously and independently, 24/7.

“Our main priority is to keep our Spartan family safe,” said Dan Bollman, MSU’s VP in charge of facilities. “From mandatory, on-campus COVID-19 testing to enhanced cleaning and safety measures, we have been doing everything we can to protect our campus community during the pandemic. Installing new air purifying technology is another way we’re investing in improving safety for our students, staff, faculty, and visitors.”

In contrast to large-scale solutions like building-wide HVAC units, the UV Angel solutions were designed to prevent person-to-person contamination within a smaller field of influence. It sucks in air from (potentially poorly ventilated) indoor spaces and treats it with highly concentrated UV light, neutralizing any potential threats at the source.

“Universities by their nature are designed for people to congregate. That creates challenges where diseases are spread person to person,” said UV Angel CEO Tom Byrne. “Just like we see during the cold and flu season, it is critical to understand that people are the major source of contamination and disease transmission. The recent pandemic continues to highlight the need to add engineered, source-level controls at the point where contamination is occurring. Michigan State is among leading universities in the country to install technology on campus that adds an important layer of protection against infection for students, faculty, and visitors on campus.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • How One School Reimagined Learning Spaces—and What Others Can Learn

    When Collegedale Academy, a PreK–8 school outside Chattanooga, Tenn., needed a new elementary building, we faced the choice that many school leaders eventually confront: repair an aging facility or reimagine what learning spaces could be. Our historic elementary school held decades of memories for families, including some who had once walked its halls as children themselves. But years of wear and the need for costly repairs made it clear that investing in the old building would only patch the problems rather than solve them.

  • KI Launches K–12 Classroom Furniture Giveaway

    Contract furniture company KI recently announced the launch of its fourth-annual Classroom Furniture Giveaway, which awards $50,000 each to four K–12 educators across the U.S., according to a news release. The goal is to address decreasing student engagement and increasing teacher burnout numbers by updating learning spaces to accommodate modern needs.

  • Tennessee State University Gains Approval for New Engineering Facility

    Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tenn., recently announced that it has received approval from the Tennessee State Building Commission to build a new engineering building on campus, according to a university news release. The 70,000-square-foot, $50-million facility will play home to the university’s engineering programs and the Applied & Industrial Technology program.

  • Colorado State University Global, SCTE Launch Online Certificate Program

    Colorado State University Global (CSU Global), based in Denver, Colo., recently announced a partnership with CableLabs subsidiary the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) to launch an online certificate training program for broadband professionals, according to a news release.