When Tesla began supplying ventilators to New Jersey hospitals three years ago to fight COVID-19, many thanked the carmaker for its generosity. Left unsaid was what it took to make some of those machines compatible with New Jersey equipment. Connecting donated machines to systems at Rutgers teaching hospitals required reengineering adaptors to ventilators commonly used in the state. With resources strained and hundreds dying daily, we called upon the Rutgers School of Engineering to help solve the problem. Within days, Rutgers engineers designed a 3D-printed adaptor that linked Tesla’s devices to our ventilators — and kept our patients breathing. New Jersey was the nation’s COVID-19 epicenter back then, but to my knowledge, not a single person in the state died due to the lack of a ventilator that spring. Tesla’s generosity was one reason why. Interdisciplinary collaborations at Rutgers, facilitated by the largest higher education merger in United States history, was another. To read the full story.