MSE Professor Sundaresan Jayaraman and Principal Research Scientist Sungmee Park receive the 2020 Textile Institute Research Publication Award for 2020 for their paper, ‘From containment to harm reduction from SARS-CoV-2: a fabric mask for enhanced effectiveness, comfort, and compliance.’

Established in 2010 to celebrate the centenary of The Textile Institute, the award is presented to an individual author or group of authors for the most outstanding paper published in The Journal of The Textile Institute during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is offered. This award is generously sponsored by Taylor & Francis. All authors and group of authors who have had a paper published in 2020 are automatically submitted for this award.

Jayaraman states, "Apart from the professional recognition, this prestigious award means a lot to us especially since the paper, 'From containment to harm reduction from SARS-CoV-2: a fabric mask for enhanced effectiveness, comfort, and compliance' came out at a very critical time in our lives, and the technology was adopted and used in practice by people around the world. One of the e-mail messages we received after publication captured the value of the paper -- both as a fundamental contribution to design and as a practical application to help humankind: 'I am trying to obtain facemasks for dialysis patients at St. Barnabus dialysis clinic in the Bronx New York City. We had some sewing groups who made the square rectangular style with pleats. But your design is spot on.'” Read the paper here.