Elvan Cavac, from the Martin Group, won the Grinspoon Entrepreneurial Spirit Award for her start-up, Pickmeup Snacks, which uses cricket protein to create healthy and sustainable treats.

Cavac states, "Pickmeup Snacks are nutrient dense, high protein snacks made with cricket protein powder. We currently have two flavors: cheese cracker crusher and chocolate chip cookie beast. One serving gives you about 200 calories, and 10 grams of protein. They are also really delicious. If you would like to check us out, visit our website and join our newsletter! https://www.pickmeupsnacks.com/

"Why bugs? Our mission statement at Pickmeup Snacks is to lead the change in the western diet for a healthier and sustainable future. Livestock industry generates more greenhouse gas emissions than transport and it takes about 2000 gallons of water to produce only one pound of beef. The world is projected to host 9 billion people in 2050. We simply cannot keep feeding the livestock industry like we do right now if we want to live in a sustainable future. The way we think about food needs to change.

"Our vision is that bugs will be a staple in our kitchens, and we will eat more of them than beef or pork. This is due to their excellent nutrition and sustainable production profiles. For example, compared with cattle, crickets need 6x less feed, 0.045% as much water and produce 80% less methane. In the mean time, while a sirloin steak is only 29% protein, dried crickets are about 70% protein.

"My experience with Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship has been amazing. Their support and guidance helped me turn this business into reality. In addition to having created this business, I have gained tremendous strategic planning and leadership skills. I am really grateful and I will continue working there to get my start-up to grow bigger!"

Phytos Therapeutics, headed by Ryan Landis (PhD student in the Rotello group), won $20,000 in the Innovation Challenge, hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship. Phytos Therapeutics designs, develops and licenses groundbreaking nanotechnology to address the growing dangers of infectious disease.

On Thursday, April 5, the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship awarded $65,000 to three ventures at Innovation Challenge: The Final. Seven student-led ventures pitched to a panel of seven VIP judges. Alexander Smith’s eBiologics won $30,000. Ryan Landis’ Phytos Therapeutics won $20,000. KINASE, Inc. was awarded $15,000.

Landis adds, "The entire process has been humbling and I have been truly enlightened from the experience. I am very grateful to many graduate, professor, and staff members in the UMass Amherst Chemistry Department, the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the Isenberg School of Management, the UMass Institute for Applied Life Sciences, and the Stockbridge School of Agriculture. Without their advice, insight, and connections, I would not be where I am today."

For the third consecutive year, UMass Amherst has finished as the third leading institutional producer of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipients among Massachusetts colleges and universities. Eight UMass representatives—including seven graduate students and one undergraduate—have won the fellowships in the 2017-18 competition, placing the university behind only Harvard and MIT in the statewide rankings.

Emil Samson, a graduate student in chemistry, is one of the Graduate Research Fellowship awardees. Three-year awards providing an annual stipend of $34,000 to recipients and a yearly $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to their graduate institutions, Graduate Research Fellowships support the master’s and doctoral training of academically talented students pursuing careers in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This year’s cohort of 2,000 Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) awardees was selected from an applicant pool comprised of more than 12,000 students.

Two Institute of Applied Life Sciences (IALS) researchers, organic and polymer chemist Thai Thayumanavan and professor of animal science Lisa Minter, have partnered with Anika Therapeutics Inc. of Bedford to co-develop a new product for treating the autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis.

The work is part of Phase II of a continuing relationship between IALS and Anika.

Thayumanavan and Minter say this next phase of the collaboration builds on Thayumanavan’s expertise in delivering molecules into cells in a targeted and specific way and Minter’s expertise in autoimmune disease. They and the company will focus on research to optimize a drug delivery system to advance a new therapy candidate.

Gabriela Weaver, vice provost for faculty development and director of the Institute for Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development, has been selected to attend the 2018 Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) Institute at Bryn Mawr College July 9-21. She was also awarded a CBL (Clare Booth Luce) Scholarship that provides full tuition, accommodations, meals and travel. A professor of chemistry, Weaver will be part of the HERS Luce Program for Women in STEM Leadership.