What is the Design Thinking for Food Course?
Design thinking is a graduate-level class (currently FST 298 but eventually FST 259) offered through the Department of Food Science and Technology that brings students from across campus together to learn and apply the tools of both design thinking and food studies toward addressing high impact food system challenges. Design Thinking is a toolkit that helps people creatively and collaboratively solve problems using the lenses of viability, desirability, and feasibility while being human-centered throughout. Food Studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between food and the wide array of human experiences with which it intersects.
Design Thinking for Food focuses on one real-world food systems challenge each quarter (such as food insecurity among students or food waste in institutional dining) in collaboration with campus stakeholders (such as Aggie Compass and the Dining Commons). Students work in multidisciplinary teams, also learning the values and practices of multi-disciplinary collaboration. The class is designed primarily for graduate students from across all fields and disciplines, but a few undergraduate students are welcome to join us each quarter.
Still not sure? Click here for a video about the course and to read student testimonials.