AMHERST — UMass Amherst, in partnership with the University of Massachusetts Building Authority (UMBA), announced it has selected a development team led by American Campus Communities (ACC) to collaborate on a comprehensive, long-range, and phased plan to modernize campus housing while maintaining affordability and exploring non-residential amenities to enhance the campus experience.

The strategic planning process will focus on both the Amherst campus and the Charles River campus in Newton. The project team envisions building new student housing to allow for the renovation or replacement of existing residence hall facilities in a multi-phase approach without the loss of current student housing capacity. The development team will also assist the university in evaluating non-student housing and non-residential amenities that have the potential to enhance student life, engage the community, and address campus infrastructure needs.

“We are excited for our community to begin working with our new partners on envisioning the near-, mid-, and long-term future of the flagship campus,” UMass Chancellor Javier Reyes said. “By focusing on how residential communities interact with and enhance academic, cultural, and recreational spaces, and aligning private partnership with investments in academic, research, and athletic facilities, we can design a cohesive campus that maintains affordability, achieves sustainability goals, and promotes community well-being.”

Beginning in the summer and fall of 2026 and throughout the multi-phase design and development process, the university and ACC will provide opportunities for recurring input from students, faculty, governance groups, and other campus stakeholders. Over the summer, the project team will work with campus governance groups to coordinate opportunities for broader campus community input at the start of the fall semester. Planning efforts will also leverage recent student feedback and survey data collected as part of the university’s campus planning processes to date. Any projects that emerge will require approval through the university’s multi-step approval process, including the UMBA board and the UMass board of trustees.

ACC is the nation’s largest developer, owner, and manager of student housing opportunities. After initiating a request for proposals through UMBA last year, the campus worked with real estate advisory firm Newmark to manage the RFP process that led to the selection of ACC from a large pool of competitive responses. The development team also includes Elkus Manfredi Architects and Suffolk Construction.

Currently, more than 60% of students live in 51 residence halls and apartment buildings on campus. Of the 209 ranked public universities, UMass Amherst is among the top five in the country for percentage of on-campus students.

“First-class facilities are needed to match the first-class quality and caliber of our students, faculty, staff, and operations,” said Andy Mangels, vice chancellor for Administration and Finance. “This project will position UMass Amherst to continue to attract top talent through a phased campus development that emphasizes creativity and affordability.”

The strategic planning process is informed by recent student housing market analyses, including student surveys and focus groups, and aligns with the Healey-Driscoll administration’s statewide housing priorities. This effort is separate from the BRIGHT Act, which is navigating the state Legislature and authorizes capital expenditures intended to upgrade campus infrastructure as well as support decarbonization efforts.

The public-private partnership procurement that resulted in the selection of the ACC-led group is based on an approach previously used by UMass and UMBA, and by higher education institutions nationwide, to create the best results possible for the UMass Amherst campus, its students, and the Amherst community while remaining prudent stewards of resources.

AMHERST — Four student-led ventures shared in a $65,000 prize pool in the Innovation Challenge: The Final, the culminating pitch competition hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management on April 30.

More than 50 ventures representing 10 schools and colleges across the university entered this year’s competition, with 25 invited to pitch at a preliminary event on April 15 and four advancing to the final. The top pitches spanned public health, agriculture, digital marketing, and clean energy.

Each finalist delivered a five-minute pitch followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session with a panel of judges made up of alumni and industry professionals.

“The Innovation Challenge highlights the depth of talent and initiative we see across campus,” said Gregory Thomas, executive director of the Berthiaume Center. “Students are not only identifying meaningful problems — they’re building solutions and developing the skills to bring those ideas forward.”

The winners are:

• $31,000, HertZ Innovation Inc.: Yuzhen Zhang ’25, College of Natural Sciences. HertZ Innovation strengthens public health by making advanced contamination detection accessible at the point of need. BactiSee is a rapid, reliable bacterial confirmation system designed to improve safety, reduce costs, and support smarter decisions across industries.

• $23,000, SwineShield: Ryan Ciulla ’27, College of Natural Sciences. SwineShield manufactures a patent-pending protective vest for newborn piglets that reduces crushing-related mortality by up to 40%, saving operators $15,000 to $40,000 annually while also improving animal welfare.

• $10,000, Vidovo: Elijah Khasabo ’26, Isenberg School of Management. Vidovo is a user-generated content marketplace and managed service that pairs brands with vetted creators to produce scroll-stopping, paid-ready video content at scale. It handles sourcing, briefing, and production so brands get a steady stream of fresh ad creative without the overhead.

• $1,000, Air-Gen: Alex Lombardi ’27, Riccio College of Engineering. Air-Gen generates continuous electricity from ambient humidity with no batteries, no sunlight, and no moving parts. Its dual-mechanism hydrogel platform enables maintenance-free, energy-autonomous electronics for smart buildings and the internet of things.