Top Terp Ideas

Terps don’t just eat ramen and watch Netflix in their dorm rooms—some of UMD’s best inventions have come from inside those cinderblock walls. During the next few weeks, students will showcase their ventures in competitions like Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank ’96’s Cupid’s Cup and the socially minded Do Good Challenge, as well as the biannual expo of student-run incubator Startup Shell. We’re highlighting businesses and projects that, while still small now, could change our world for the better:

WeCook

There’s no motivator like hunger. Dining hall food was bland compared to what Ryan Pillai ’17 was used to at home. He didn’t want to visit the same fast-food chains on Route 1 every day. And his cooking skills were lacking. So he and his co-founder Michael Malcolm ’17 created what they call the “Uber” for personal chefs, targeted at people who want healthy, home-cooked meals without the hassle. Its chefs, all certified by the American Personal Chefs Association, show up at customers’ doors once a week. They bring the ingredients and necessary equipment, cook and package the food (a minimum of four servings of one meal per visit), then clean up. All clients have to do is heat up the individual portions.

Since launching on campus last summer, WeCook has branched out throughout Maryland, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Favorite recipes include sweet potato and quinoa salad with feta and balsamic vinegar, rosemary lamb chops with homemade mashed potatoes, and honey-based salmon. To grow his business, the engineering major is doing a co-op this semester, which allows him to stay a full-time student while taking a break from classes. “Entrepreneurship is not easily taught,” Pillai says. “UMD has done a fantastic job of giving us the resources we need and allowed us to do our own thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good idea or not, just try it, and they’ll support you.”

"Drone Pollock"

“I try to use technology to either change the way we create art or experience art,” says Stefanie Cohen ’14, M.Eng. ’16. At Technica, the all-female hackathon that debuted at UMD last fall, she brought together 200 global contributors to input coordinates for a drone to splatter paint on a 15-square-foot canvas—a work she dubbed “Drone Pollock.” At another hackathon, she helped create a music markup language for blind composers to make music easily using keyboard commands and audio feedback. And now, she’s put together a contraption that pumps out colored paints onto a spinning platform based on the frequencies of the music it samples.

“I want hackers and artists to have an understanding and appreciation for what the other does, and to not hesitate to explore and combine fields,” says Cohen, who plans to start selling her art on her website. “Leonardo da Vinci is known for being one of the greatest artists of all time, but he was also one of the greatest engineers.”

Javazen

Tired of the jitters and crash that follow drinking a bad cup of morning joe? Eric Golman ’15, Ryan Schueler ’14 and Aaron Wallach ’14 have created a blend of organic coffee, matcha green tea and raw chocolate cacao, designed to energize in a healthy way. After just two years, Javazen’s three blends are now available at 150 stores across the country (as well as on Amazon), and the company’s “Boost” blend was recently recognized by Clean Eating magazine as one of the healthiest beverages in the country. On Thursday, the Terp trio will compete for the $100,000 Cupid’s Cup prize—one that could launch their fledgling business into new markets.

Share-able

Health care is expensive, and specialized medical equipment makes it even more so. That was the lesson Sam Weingord ’19 gleaned from his mom, a speech therapist in Montgomery County, Md., who often works with low-income families with disabilities. Obtaining something as simple a wheelchair for a growing child can be a challenge. “I thought, let’s come up with a website that’s solely focused on exchanging equipment between families. It would be cheaper because it’s used and there’s more kindness between families who are experiencing similar things,” he says. The site is a work in progress, but he and his teammates are conducting community interviews to build the network.

Betty Cricket

Bugs are a staple in cuisines around the world, from ant eggs in Mexico to cicadas in Thailand—even the United Nations thinks edible insects are the food of the future. Nick Sarfaraz ’19 and his team at Betty Cricket (a play on “Betty Crocker”) are leading the charge to popularize this cheap source of protein on campus and beyond by organizing events to hand out bug-based brownies, granola bars and chips with students, faculty and staff, and even parents and community members. “There’s no way with the technology we have and the demand for meat that we can raise enough of it without harming animals,” he says. Eating insects “is more sustainable and ethical.” Though most of Betty Cricket’s products mask the insects, using ground insect flour, Sarfaraz is also looking to offer whole crickets at his next event on McKeldin Mall—for those who dare to try them.