ISU students tackle food waste, explore AI in collaborative workshop

Written by Marcellus Wilson on March 25, 2026

Image courtesy of Illinois State University

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State University will bring together 30 students from 10 majors and four colleges for a collaborative workshop aimed at reducing food waste while promoting equity and food access.

Peter Kaufman, a business professor, said students learned more about food waste while also exploring AI and its ethical use.

“The students first learned about the issue of food waste from the Office of Sustainability and the Center for Civic Engagement at ISU,” Kaufman said. “Then, they received an overview of the basic use of AI and ethical use of AI to address their challenge.”

Some of the workshop’s sponsors included the Hagey Innovation Institute and Interdisciplinary Studies, which collaborated with students to address the challenges. Community partners, including the Town of Normal, Green Top Grocery, and judges from State Farm, GROWMARK and U.S. Foods, also participated, focusing on ways to minimize environmental impact.

Kaufman discussed the importance of this workshop and how it served to educate students about these issues.

“We have to address the crucial issue of how to minimize food waste because we have some people who are starving or food insecure,” Kaufman said. “On the other hand, we’ve got entities to try to minimize the suffering or difficulty of food waste.”

The organizations also supported the teams that competed in the workshop and hopes to host another event in the next academic year.

“We’re trying to help them be able to implement some of their solutions over the coming months,” Kaufman said.

Kaufman was proud of the students for their efforts in the workshop and he loved the passion the students showed in the topics that were discussed within the workshop.

“They really did an excellent job working hard working very respectfully and effectively with their teammates,” Kaufman said.

Students are expected to continue seeking out AI workshops while working to address food waste and deepen their understanding of business model development and AI use.