Office of Sustainability

The College of Human Sciences has developed one of the only Hunger Studies minors in the country. Students representing every discipline apply their major studies in cross-disciplinary classes that interactively study and discuss how to solve hunger. Students examine hunger as a complex issue of sustainable human development. Topics include causes and consequences of U.S. and global hunger, as well as current responses and potential solutions. The minor helps students develop a skill set for global citizenship that includes opportunities for advocacy, leadership, and critical problem solving. Students also learn to apply critical thinking skills in addressing hunger as a multi-disciplinary, complex social issue.

Auburn University’s Universities Fighting World Hunger (UFWH) chapter is a student advocacy and action campaign striving to end hunger as well as advocating for the right to widespread, quality nutrition for all individuals, particularly for those in developing countries. UFWH’s goals align with the Sustainable Development Goals in ending campus hunger, national hunger, and worldwide hunger by the year 2030. UFWH attends an annual summit with themes of resilience and resurgence, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and was hosted at Auburn University in 2022. Members are able to obtain a global awareness of hunger as a rooted, interconnected issue upon entering the workforce.

The Nutrition Resource Center was established in 2021 in collaboration with the Office of Campus Dining, Nutrition and Dietetics Academy, Health Promotion and Wellness Services, and the AU Counseling & Psychological Services. The Center’s mission is to identify and quantify food insecurity on campus, as well as provide a flagship for basic needs programs at Auburn University. The Center includes a space for the Campus Kitchen at Auburn University and the Campus Food Pantry, a service branching from Auburn Cares. The Nutrition Resource Center also aims to provide students with a basic understanding of the realities of food insecurity at Auburn University and throughout Auburn and Opelika communities. The Center also offers volunteer opportunities and nutrition counseling. In the heart of campus, the Nutrition Resource Center is a “full-scale integration of education, application, and service.”

A foundational principle of the College of Human Sciences’ Hunger Solutions Institute (HSI) is that hunger is a solvable problem, but only when the relevant knowledge from all academic disciplines is combined with strengths of all sectors. By creating multi-sector partnerships at the community, state, and global levels, HSI shares knowledge and best practices and leverages the power of collective action. HSI educates and mobilizes students to join in the fight against hunger, creates collaborative coalitions to address hunger, and convenes university leaders to prioritize food and nutrition security. HSI brings together experts and practitioners from all disciplines to collectively address hunger and malnutrition.

The Auburn Detection and Food Safety Center fosters scientific collaboration that allows for the detection of pathogens and other potential dangers that arise in human consumption. The Center aims to reduce food borne diseases as well as improve health and well-being on a global scale. The Center includes professionals from five of Auburn University’s colleges working to engineer sensor and information systems technology for sustainable food systems. By using biomolecular recognition and detection devices, the Center is able to precisely locate pathogen presence on fresh food in the lab and consequentially, improve food systems production and distribution on a national scale.

About 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. is wasted at different stages of the farm-to-fork continuum, amounting to 133 billion pounds annually. This immense food waste occurs while millions of people go hungry. The College of Agriculture’s Amit Morey researches innovative ways to reduce food waste and capture food being wasted to improve food security of people in the United States. Morey’s development of “functional ice,” a product for storage and transportation, will increase food safety while reducing waste for the poultry and seafood industries. Morey’s research could be a game-changer in the fight to minimize food waste and ensure food security.