Putting technology to work to help fight hunger

Four members of FlashFood – a team of Arizona State University students and recent graduates – won the U.S. Microsoft Imagine Cup this spring. Next they’ll go to Sydney, Australia, in July, to compete in the Imagine Cup Worldwide Finals, the premiere international student technology competition.

The team members recently talked about their project on Channel 12’s “EVB Live” show in Phoenix.

They’ve developed an application for smartphones and other cell phones to help establish community networks to collect  leftover or excess fresh food from restaurants, catering services and banquet halls and transport it for distribution to people in need.

The phone application is used for the communications between food providers, collectors and recipients that are necessary to ensure the network can operate rapidly and effectively.

The project evolved from the Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) program in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

FlashFood members competing in the Imagine Cup are biomedical engineering graduate Eric Lenhardt, marketing and sustainability graduate Jake Irvin, computer science graduate Steven Hernandez and Katelyn Keberle, a senior in materials science and engineering.

Other members are sustainability graduate Loni Amundson and computer science graduate Ramya Baratam.