People

Azra is pursuing a PhD in Design, which is focused on developing design frameworks and tools "to leverage the knowledge embedded in local initiatives towards the design of infrastructures that can enhance organizations’ and communities’ collective capacity to act." As a member of the Food Systems Action Lab at the Institute of Design, Azra is currently working on projects related to food systems transformation, particularly around wasted food in the Chicago region, as part of the Multiscale RECIPES project.

Azra is co-director of the Food Systems Action Lab at the Institute of Design. Her PhD work draws from the Lab's current projects related to food systems transformation, particularly around values-based institutional food procurement through Community Food Mobilization in Chicago, and wasted food management in the Chicago region, as part of the Multiscale RECIPES project.

Symone is pursuing a PhD in Design, which is focused on activating community design. She is the design and research lead for Illinois Tech's Community Engagement Council, formed in 2024 to assess current practices at the university as it engages with the Bronzeville community across research, teaching and outreach, and re-design a holistic and mutually-beneificial approach to these relationships.

Gaudy is pursuing a PhD in Management Science with a focus on analytics. Her research is focused on the application of digital transformation, data science and artificial intelligence approaches to drive strategic decision-making in supply chains, with a current focus on regional food systems in Chicago. She is part of the Community Food Mobilization in Chicago project team.

Marina completed her PhD in Production Engineering at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Brazil in 2022. Prof. Ashton co-supervised her dissertation work, along with Prof. Lucila de Souza Campos at UFSC. Marina's research focuses on the circular economy and developing appropriate indicators and indices for measuring circularity at the organizational level. 

Veronica completed joint degrees in Master of Design and Master of Business Administration at the Institute of Design and Stuart School of Business, respectively at Illinois Tech in 2021. Her work explored the feasibility of developing a Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) cooperatively-owned food hub that serves the economic and nutritional needs of communities across metro-Chicago, as well as key City of Chicago and Cook County institutions that have signed onto the Good Food Purchasing Program.  

Jahanzaib (Jay) applied tools learnt in his Marketing Analytics coursework at the Stuart School of Business to understand Chicagoland's food system and the opportunities for developing a Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) cooperatively-owned food hub that serves the economic and nutritional needs of communities across Chicago.  He compiled a report on "Characteristics and Trends among Food Hubs in the United States" by performing statistical analysis of 248 Food Hubs across the country, and presented his findings at numerous workshops across Chicagoland.

More on Jay's work.

Joe completed his PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Spring 2020. Joe's dissertation "An exploration of climate change, socioecology, and human health in managing food-energy-water impacts" researched the environmental impacts of food choices across demographic groups in the US.  He demonstrated that there are significant differences in the land and water requirements, and greenhouse gas emissions of the diets of different racial and socio-economic groups.  Two of the publications coming out of his dissertation have garnered international attention: Overcoming climate change adaptation barriers: A study on food–energy–water impacts of the average American diet by demographic group and Distinguishing Environmental Impacts of Household Food-Spending Patterns Among U.S. Demographic Groups.

More on Joe's work.

Andre completed his PhD at the Institute of Design in Fall 2019. Andre's dissertation "Sustainable Solutions in Complex Spaces of Innovation" focused on integrating sustainability considerations and tools into design research. We worked in close collaboration with Plant Chicago, the Calumet Collaborative and the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, to co-create sustainability focused design frameworks and tools that were applicable to their respective efforts. Our work advocates for "Expanding Perceptions of the Circular Economy" by considering eight forms of capital, and "Infrastructuring the Circular Economy" through collaboration with practitioners. After completing his PhD, he accepted a position as a Research Associate and Instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 

More on Andre's work.

Marta worked as a graduate research assistant and project coordinator on the Pathways to Cleaner Production in the Americas project from 2014-2015, during and after the Master of Public Administration program at the Stuart School of Business. She helped managed a network of nine universities across Latin America, working together to integrate cleaner production and experiential learning into their curricula. 

Marta is currently pursuing a doctorate in education, while working on social innovation projects in Madrid, Spain with Fundación Tomillo.