The "number one" area in which NASA could apply its expertise is in sterilizing personal protective equipment for reuse, according to Kaminski.

“The number one thing that’s out there is sterilization methods because we do it routinely for instrumentation and spacecraft that go to other planets," she said. "We work in clean rooms. We use personal protective equipment regularly, so this is part of the routine of what we do even though it’s not in a medical environment."

Kaminski, who previously worked for the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Space Society, also spoke about the review process for the ideas and next steps for turning them into reality.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Where did the idea to crowdsource coronavirus solutions come from?

There was a lot of energy across the agency … of asking how can we help? We’re all seeing what’s happening in the media. We recognize that NASA has a lot of unique expertise and unique facilities that could really make what we thought was a meaningful difference. Between the energy of the workforce and the recognition of the talent there, Administrator Jim Bridenstine as well as our associate administrator, Steve Jurczyk, made the announcement that we were going to open up this call for ideas to the workplace.

How many submissions have you received since the portal opened on April 1?

We have received more than 200 submissions at this point. That sense that people wanted to contribute has really borne out in this process. People clearly do have the passion and interest in helping in anyway they can.

How does that compare with other crowdsourcing efforts at NASA?

It’s a huge number of ideas. We use a platform called NASA @ Work. It’s our internal crowdsourcing platform where we regularly invite the workforce [to post] if somebody has a problem they’re trying to solve and are looking for some ideas. It’s a way to reach people in other parts of the agency.

So far we’re running about four times the average number of responses we get for any particular challenge. This is a situation that’s affecting everybody and it’s broader in nature than some of our other calls.