Columbia Engineering students face demanding schedules, late nights, and limited access to healthy, affordable food—an overlooked barrier to academic success. Through user research, stakeholder interviews, and iterative prototyping, my team and I designed SmartBites, a tech-enabled dining solution tailored to the unique needs of graduate students.
1. The Challenge
Students reported skipping meals, relying on unhealthy snacks, or struggling to find nourishing food during late hours. These gaps impacted energy, focus, and overall well-being. Our challenge was to create a solution that treats nutrition as academic infrastructure—not an afterthought.
2. The Approach
We combined design research with systems thinking, interviewing students, faculty, and campus operations staff. Insights shaped a dining model grounded in flexibility, speed, and personalization. The SmartBites system includes:
Smart lockers placed near study zones for instant access
App-based ordering tied to students’ schedules and dietary needs
Meals engineered for focus, energy recovery, or stress relief
Shared eating spaces repurposed from underutilized campus zones
3. The Result
SmartBites transforms dining into a performance tool. The final concept features:
A seamless mobile interface for one-tap ordering and pickup timing
Biometric integration (e.g., hydration level, sleep data) for smarter meal recommendations
Flexible fulfillment via lockers or mindful communal dining lounges
Back-end planning tools to help the university optimize food delivery and reduce waste
The solution was praised for aligning health, sustainability, and student success in a system that scales.
4. Why It Matters
SmartBites reframes nutrition not as a luxury, but as a critical enabler of intellectual performance. It speaks directly to student stress points—time scarcity, dietary neglect, and isolation—and uses simple, scalable tech to solve them. By embedding SmartBites into campus life, Columbia Engineering could reduce cognitive fatigue, promote wellness, and support students in performing at their highest level.