Grinspoon Entrepreneurship Initiative Awards Announced

UMass students were recognized by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation Entrepreneurship Initiative in late April.

The mission of the Grinspoon Entrepreneurship Initiative is to encourage entrepreneurial activity in the Pioneer Valley by fostering an educational environment among participating colleges and universities that informs, supports, and inspires students, and by recognizing and rewarding students who display entrepreneurial spirit.

Concept awards are for pre-revenue for-profit businesses. The concept must be substantially developed but some work may still be needed before business is initiated. Current students and alumni within the last five years are eligible.

Concept Awards ($300-$500)

Improved Insulin Delivery, Connor MacFarlane, freshman, engineering

Qualtags, Harsha Prakki, sophomore, operations and information management

Bac-Be-Gone

Hadley Beauregard, sophomore, biochemistry and molecular biology, German and Scandinavian studies

Hailey Charest, junior, biochemistry and molecular biology

Bryanna Lexus Freitas, senior, chemistry and psychology

Kiefer Games, Matthew Kiefer, junior, marketing

RealTime Sports

Noah Kortkamp, senior, sport management

Sam Darkwa, junior, management

Covema Coffee by SnackShapes, LLC, Mitchell Culler, PhD candidate, food science

Nutriply, Minqi Wang, ‘17G

OpenThink, Nathan Kessel, University Without Walls

Balanced, Patrick Scanlon, sophomore, BDIC

Natural Apparel, Amanda Lee, freshman, marketing

Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards recognize entrepreneurial spirit. They are not seed money and, as such, there are no stipulations associated with the award. Recipients must have substantially started a for-profit business. Current students and alumni within the last five years are eligible.

Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards ($500-$600)

BizzyBox, Camillo Archuleta ’12, ’17G

Learn to Wrench, Ben Schroeder, Junior, BDIC

UMass’ Grinspoon Faculty Committee Members are Gregory S Thomas (Executive Director, Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship; lecturer, management dept.), Carly Forcade (Program Manager, Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship) and Eric Crawley (Entrepreneur-in-Residence, College of Engineering). This trio recommended students for Grinspoon Awards.

The Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Massachusetts initiates teaching, programming and mentoring while making the innovation and entrepreneurial resources of the Commonwealth's largest university available to students, alumni, faculty and staff.