WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A self-adhesive, lab-grade and food-grade film called SoyShield earned the $20,000 grand prize in the 31st annual Student Soybean Innovation Competition during the awards ceremony on March 26 at the Purdue Memorial Union in West Lafayette. This year’s event added a new soy-based food innovation track, which was won by a high-protein snack called Soy Straws.

The Student Soybean Innovation Competition is a partnership between the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and Purdue University. ISA awarded more than $35,000 to four teams that created new products in the industry track. In the soy-based food track, five teams earned a total of $11,000. To win these competitions, Purdue University students must develop innovative applications for soybeans. More than 100 students completed the competition through the two tracks comprised of 31 teams.

“The goal of the competition is to highlight the versatility of soybeans while addressing a need in agriculture or the general public,” said ISA Board Chair Denise Scarborough, a farmer from LaCrosse, Ind. “ISA looks forward to working with Purdue students each year and seeing what unique products they create. The products made by these students can expand opportunities and markets for all Indiana soybean growers. We are excited about SoyShield and Soy Straws.”

Nineteen teams of 62 students with 21 faculty advisers competed in this year’s industrial soy products track.

SoyShield is a 100 percent biodegradable, highly elastic, self-adhesive lab-grade and food-grade film designed to be used in commercial laboratory settings for sealing chemical containers, while also being suitable for home use as an alternative to plastic wrap. SoyShield was created by Purdue University students Claire Eckhardt, Nicholas Emge and Leah Hartzell. Both Eckhardt and Emge are sophomores majoring in environmental and natural resources engineering. Eckhardt is from Albuquerque, N.M., and Emge is from O’Fallon, Mo. Hartzell is a sophomore from Miami, Fla., majoring in agricultural engineering.

Originally intended for a laboratory market, SoyShield is an environmentally friendly alternative to petroleum-based films. The SoyShield team said there is a growing need for biodegradable solutions for one-use-only materials as many university-based laboratories are adopting new environmental standards. Due to its soybean ingredients, SoyShield has the added benefit of being able to replace plastic wrap in kitchens for preserving food. Because SoyShield is permeable, there may be additional uses for this product.

“In the home consumer market, there is a great need for elastic films to seal food,” Eckhardt said. “Additionally, the permeable and compostable nature of SoyShield makes it much less of a choking hazard for children in the home compared to non-permeable plastic counterparts currently on the market.”

The soy-based food innovation track was a new addition to the competition this year. The competition required students to develop novel high-protein snack items using soy. In total, 12 teams, all of whom are College of Agriculture students who worked with Purdue Food Science Department to create products made with the food grade facilities on campus, competed for top prize.

Soy Straws, a lightweight, shelf-stable snack that resembles an egg roll cookie from Spain called a barquilleros, earned the $5,000 top prize in the first-ever Student Soy Food Competition. The creators of Soy Straws said they offer the ability to deliver a variety of flavors and a simple manufacturing process. The product’s marketing plan said Soy Straws are a crispy, high protein snack with 15 grams of protein and 0 trans fats. The winning team called themselves The Edemamas and featured Purdue students Anna Hicks, Rong Yang and Sara Thomason.

“Getting crispy products can be a little bit tricky, especially a protein snack,” Hicks said. “It can be a little bit tricky to get the textures you want. There is a lot of trial and error with different formulations to get the texture you want. We were really excited when we were brainstorming because those crispy round snacks aren’t currently on the market.”

Dr. Rodolfo Pinal People’s Choice Award

In addition to the other prizes, the more than 400 attendees of the Student Soybean Innovation Competition Awards Ceremony could each vote for their favorite product for the $500 People’s Choice award. This prize was officially renamed in honor Dr. Rodolfo Pinal, associate professor of Industrial and Molecular Pharmaceutics who died in December 2024. Pinal was a frequent faculty adviser for students in this competition, many of whom were prize winners, including the past two winning teams.

This year’s award went to SoyCare, soybean-based diapers that provide a cost-effective, highly biodegradable and renewable solution to meet a growing demand. The integration of soy-based absorbent technology and soy-derived fabric ensures high absorbency, comfort and complete biodegradability – which is important with diapers significantly filling U.S. landfills. The SoyCare team members include Soumil Gupta, who plans to major in chemical engineering; Mary Busayo Oluyemi, a doctoral student in the Department of Food Science; and Himanjali Tavva, a freshman food science major.

The contest introduces Purdue students to the multi-faceted uses and vast potential of soybeans while drawing on students’ creativity to develop products that utilize soy.

“Indiana soybean checkoff funds are used, in part, to find new uses and new markets for our soybeans – creating more demand and higher value uses to help our farms to be more profitable and sustainable,” said ISA Board Director Jenna Scott, a farmer from Muncie, Ind., chair of ISA’s Sustainability and Value Creation Committee. “The Student Soybean Innovation Competition allows ISA to create relationships with bright and creative students and their advisers at Purdue. Products from this contest have the potential to help us increase the value of the soybeans we grow.”

Go online to bit.ly/soycompetition for more details on ISA’s investment in soybean innovation. To watch the awards ceremony, go online to Purdue’s YouTube page at bit.ly/SSIClivestream.