Research & Student Projects

Students

The ASI Food Pantry supports multiple research and student projects throughout each year, in partnership with academic departments at Sac State. The goal of these collaborations is to help students gain hands-on experience in the field to build on their coursework and to bridge existing research gaps in the ASI Food Pantry/ASI Student Engagement and Outreach’s strategic priorities (pg 15-21). Since 2021, more than 16 students have completed their capstone, practicum, or thesis project with help from the ASI Food Pantry, and more than 225 undergraduate and graduate students contributed their time and energy serving fellow Sac State students at the ASI Food Pantry.

Recent projects include:

• SWRK 95, Introduction to Social Work
  – Various presentations on day-to-day operations of the ASI Food Pantry
  – Fall 2022 – Current
   
• NUFD 168, Senior Seminar in Nutrition and Food 
  – ServSafe-based Food Safety Training for Food Pantry Volunteers
  – Pre/Post-Presentation Knowledge Check Survey
   
• NUFD 222, Advanced Community Nutrition and Nutrition Education
  – Nutrition Intervention for Sac State Residence Hall Students
   
• NUFD 224, Advanced Community Nutrition and Policy
  – Registration Form Analysis and Revisions
  - Focus Group Demographics and Structure
  – Workflow and Employee Wellbeing
   
• NUFD 117, Community Nutrition
  – Developing a Nutrition-Based Policy for Food Pantry Donations
  - Food Pantry Locker Expansion and Proposed Sites
   
• COMS 188, Senior Seminar in Intercultural Communications
  - Intercultural Training Program with Cooking Demos
   
• PUBH 295, Public Health Practicum
  – Food Pantry User Focus Groups – Summer 2023
  – Food Pantry User Focus Groups – Summer 2024

Current Research Study

This semester, we are working with Dae Kianna, a doctoral student from Claremont Graduate University, to launch a basic needs marketing intervention study that aims to study barriers to campus food pantry use and the impact of using personalized email versus personalized physical postcard mailed to home address.

7,600 students will be randomly selected to receive a postcard in October 2024.

This study will conclude in 15 weeks and results will be published in mid-Spring 2025.

To learn more, please contact us.
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ASI Food Pantry Library

Our in-person library features a wonderful selection of program, policy, and evaluation books that may guide you in your coursework. Here are a few notable copies we can loan:

• Katie S. Martin – Reinventing Food Banks and Food Pantries
  • A must-read in learning about dignity and compassion in basic needs work. 
• James Keiser and Frederick J. DeMicco – Contemporary Management Theory: Controlling and Analyzing Costs in Foodservice Operations Fourth Edition
  • Used by the University of New Hampshire’s Dietetic Internship Program.
• Vijay Kumar – 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization
  • Use in planning workshop activities and leading teams in brainstorming.
• Stephen Few – The Data Loom: Weaving Understanding by Thinking Critically and Scientifically with Data
  • A must-read in learning about data and how we ought to use it in our pursuit of innovation and systems-building.
• 20 Children’s Books Celebrating Our Food and Farming Systems

Please reach out to Ryan Choi, ASI Food Pantry Coordinator, if you are interested in learning more.
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Faculty

We welcome collaboration inquiries and are particularly interested in the following areas:

• Agricultural Science
• Environmental Science
• Food Policy and Economics
• Nutrition and Dietetics
• Postharvest Technology
• Public Health
• Sociology/Anthropology
• Supply Chain Management
• Urban Planning

We also work with members of the CSU Basic Needs Research Consortium to reduce equity gaps in retention, academic success, and graduation.

Please reach out to Ryan Choi, ASI Food Pantry Coordinator, if you are interested in discussing further.
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