Service-Oriented Software

A 2022 report from the Governor’s Food Desert Working Group found that over 20 percent of Arkansas households reported facing some form of food insecurity, exceeding the national average of around 10 percent. Additionally, organizations like the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance estimate that one in three Arkansas children is impacted by food insecurity. The number of people experiencing hunger throughout the state has increased in recent years due to economic hardships and the ongoing effects of COVID-19, and Northwest Arkansas is no exception to the trend.

This widespread issue has attracted support from organizations and individuals hoping to make a change. One of them is Honors College Fellow Jack Norris from Rogers, Arkansas, a computer science major passionate about using his technical skills for service work. He was therefore excited to pair with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank through the McMillon Innovation Studio’s fall Demo Day event.

Digital dashboard tool for the Food Bank’s mobile pantry

“It was really great to feel like the work we were doing was impactful,” observed Norris, who was part of an interdisciplinary student team that developed a digital dashboard tool for the Food Bank’s mobile pantry. The pantry makes monthly stops throughout Northwest Arkansas to distribute products, though it has had to turn people away after running out of supplies. The team’s dashboard helps mobile pantries keep accurate inventories of supplies. It also implements a text-message-based check-in system for users that creates more accurate order estimates for upcoming stops.

“Our team thought that maybe [the Food Bank] could benefit from a system that does a lot of the number-crunching for them,” said Norris, who recalled the difficulty navigating the organization’s previous system of spreadsheets. “We wanted to cut away some of the fat with Excel and put the data into a system that was easily digestible for anyone.” Their project was ultimately named the overall winner of Demo Day.

The project was not Norris’s first involvement with the Food Bank. The high school orchestra he played in raised funds for the organization through concert ticket sales. The experience stuck with him, inspiring him to make a further impact. “It was nice to play music and get some money for it, and then to turn around and do something good with it,” he noted.

Jack Norris at the McMillon Innovation Studio

The Innovation Studio hosts Demo Day twice a year to showcase the work student design teams have completed throughout the semester. U of A students are paired with local companies to solve real-world problems and gain project management experience. Last fall, the Innovation Studio added a Social Impact track that paired teams with area nonprofits to design solutions to pressing issues. Norris, a junior who had participated in four previous semesters of Demo Days, welcomed the new opportunity to support service work.

“I wanted a change of pace — to work with an organization that maybe didn’t have the means to go through this process themselves,” he said. While past companies Norris has worked with like Walmart and startup Ox Technologies have product development infrastructures, the Food Bank does not, making their team’s involvement more impactful.

Working on the Food Bank’s project has inspired Norris to further his involvement with other service opportunities at the U of A. He is part of the Volunteer Action Center, a student-run organization connecting students to service opportunities both on and off campus. Its signature programs cover areas like youth mentorship, literacy initiatives, campus food insecurity and food recovery in the dining halls.

This year, Norris aids the VAC’s student engagement efforts as an intern specializing in GivePulse, the U of A’s volunteer management software. “I do a lot of data analytics associated with the volunteer work,” he explained, adding that he also provides technical support for those using the platform. Here, Norris uses the technical skills he has gained through his major to aid the VAC’s efforts.

Norris continues to be involved in the McMillon Innovation Studio as well. Recently, he participated in the 2023 Governor’s Cup, an annual statewide collegiate competition for innovation and entrepreneurship, on a team that emerged from the Studio’s Product Teams program behind Demo Day. They finished first in the High-Growth/Technology division for AdCharta, a concept for utilizing e-paper to transform surfaces like car bumpers or water bottles into advertisement space.

Moving forward, Norris hopes to pursue future technical projects geared toward supporting service work initiatives. He ultimately hopes to make the impact of these organizations more efficient with technical know-how. He urged others who are also interested in using STEM for social causes to explore all their interests, no matter how disparate they may seem at first.

“Early on in college, the best advice I ever received was to dive into anything that even slightly piqued my interest,” recalled Norris. “Had I not done that, I doubt I would’ve found all the awesome opportunities campus has to offer. I’d advise others to do the same — you never know what you might find.”