🌱 Tackling Food Insecurity at ASU
A Multi-Semester Showcase from the Responsible Innovation Lab
7 semesters. 6 projects. 1 mission: End food insecurity with principled innovation.
🧭 Legacy in Action: A Decade of Food Justice Work
This story started almost 10 years ago, when I was helping lead the Giving Back initiative in ASU’s University Technology Office. A 2017 State Press article about Pitchfork Pantry caught my attention — and changed the course of my work.
I reached out, met Dr. Maureen McCoy, and began supporting this student-run food access nonprofit that had been operating without formal university backing. While most U.S. campuses fund and staff food pantries, ASU’s model was silent support at best — and hostile indifference at worst.
That injustice became a personal mission.
As my roles evolved while in UTO and the Responsible Innovation Guild launched, eventually becoming the Responsible Innovation Lab — supporting food systems innovation never left. It became a standing option for student projects in every cohort. Over time, it grew into a movement.
🌟 Fueling Minds, Ending Hunger: The Hunger-Free Campus Bill
Anchor ID: #hungerfreebill
Students: Samantha George, Scarlett Nogosek, Zoe Winick
📎 View Report (PDF)
🔗 Scarlett on LinkedIn
🔗 Zoe on LinkedIn
🔗 Samantha on LinkedIn
SDGs: 2 – Zero Hunger, 3 – Good Health, 10 – Reduced Inequalities
This semester our class worked with the students a Swipe Out Hunger on campus to work on the next steps. This project proposes a state-level Hunger-Free Campus Bill — designed to fund food infrastructure, mandate transparency, and institutionalize food security across Arizona’s universities. The students worked with Swipe Out Hunger, GSA, and AZ Senators Lauren Kuby & Janeen Connolly to build legislative support and future-proof the bill’s success.
This is not a capstone that ends with a grade. This is legislation in progress — and it continues into next semester and beyond.
🔄 Supporting Projects and the Road to Policy
🏛️ Institutional Reform & Early Advocacy
▶ Addressing Student Food Insecurity at ASU
Students: Alice Duke, Scarlett Nogosek
📎 View Poster (PDF)
SDGs: 2, 4, 10
Explored university-wide challenges and proposed SNAP outreach, swipe donations, and stronger reporting structures.
▶ Cooking Sustainability: Swette Center Pilot
Student: Ian Padgett
📎 View Poster (PDF)
SDGs: 2, 3, 12
A peer-to-peer cooking curriculum piloted in ASU dorms to improve nutrition and long-term food security that we did with guidance from the folks at the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems.
💡 Student-Led Design & Redistribution
▶ Swipe It Forward
Student: Charles Plath
📎 View Poster (PDF)
SDGs: 2, 12
Built a resource-sharing system using unused meal swipes, staff alerts, and crowdsourced “raised hand” requests for immediate access.
▶ AI-Powered Redistribution: Sysco Partnership
Student: Caleb Lieberman
📎 View Presentation (PDF)
SDGs: 2, 9, 12
Created a generative AI tool to educate food service stakeholders on reducing waste and redistributing surplus food globally.
🤖 Tech Pathways & the Role of LURCH
Food insecurity isn’t only about access — it’s about navigation, dignity, and information.
That’s why we also developed LURCH, a chatbot originally conceived in meetings with Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS) to support unhoused populations. Today, it also helps students find resources discreetly. This project emerged from the same Responsible Innovation Lab cohort that pushed forward the Hunger-Free Campus Bill.
Our tech and policy teams may work on different deliverables — but they sit in the same room, share the same ethos, and cross-pollinate ideas every week.
“This journey didn’t begin in a classroom. It started when I helped organize the Giving Back initiative inside ASU’s University Technology Office. That’s when I first saw the scale and silence of food insecurity on campus — and I haven’t been able to let it go since.
What you see here is the result of students taking that same challenge seriously. Over time, food systems work has become a core track in the Responsible Innovation Lab — and it’s one of the most popular themes students choose when working with me.
These projects are part of a living movement — and it’s still unfolding. We’re not done. We’ll be continuing this work through the next legislative session, and beyond.”
— Chris Deaton, Founder, Responsible Innovation Lab
🔗 Other Related Projects Across the Lab
These projects reflect similar themes in the Responsible Innovation Lab and Future17 programs:
▶ Neha Dhanekula – Poverty Stoplight AI Mentorship
📎 View Poster (PDF)
AI-enhanced personalized support for families in poverty. Ties to the same mentorship ethics behind our food justice efforts.▶ INNOVATE vs B Corp – Ethical Certification Research
📎 View Report (PDF)
Hopkins and Ocampo’s work overlaps with food access in exploring ethical evaluation frameworks across social innovation sectors.▶ LURCH (Chatbot Project)
Created as part of a housing insecurity initiative and integrated into food access navigation support.
🌐 Explore More
🚀 What’s Next
This page is just the surface.
If you’re a student, policymaker, partner, or curious visitor — you’re invited. This isn’t just a showcase. It’s a movement in motion.
📧 Want to get involved or share a related project? Contact me at cddeaton@asu.edu