Foodie Frontiers feed the future of space exploration

A team of Binghamton students — Eunji Hong, Brendan Hurley, Krystal Facey and Saiprakash Nalubolu — placed second in the xFoundry Horizons Challenge, hosted by xFoundry — a university-based innovation program — in collaboration with NASA and supported at Binghamton through a partnership between the Fleishman Career Center and the Watson Career and Alumni Connections Office.

The nationwide competition challenges university teams to tackle critical technology gaps that will help humanity establish a sustained presence on the Moon by 2040 — and eventually reach Mars.

“I received an email from the Fleishman Career Center about boosting your résumé, exactly what I wanted to do last summer,” said Hong, a biomedical engineering graduate student.

Teams selected a focus area from four categories: Safe and Sustainable Food, Portable, Off-Grid Artificial Intelligence, Peak Physical and Mental Performance, and Autonomous Health Diagnosis and Monitoring, then worked on a pitch to solve a key issue in the chosen area.

The Binghamton team, known as the Foodie Frontiers, focused on creating an intelligent nutrition system. Their project combines AI, smart hardware and biosensing to enable adaptive meal planning in space and on Earth, even when resources or biological constraints are limited.

After many Zoom sessions over the summer, the Foodie Frontiers presented their work at the xFoundry Horizons Challenge during the NEXPLORE 2040 Summit at Amazon headquarters in Arlington, Va., Sept. 9-11.

At the summit, the students heard from some of the world’s leading innovators in space, technology and health. Speakers ranged from NASA astronauts and senior administrators to inventors, entrepreneurs and executives from companies such as Intel, ŌURA, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Axiom Space and the keynote speaker Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway! NASA astronaut Dr. Jeanette J. Epps even gave the Binghamton team a direct shout-out during her talk.

Students interested in this field can look forward to the Fleishman Career Center’s CONNECT employer treks during the spring semester, where NASA will be one of the employers students can visit. Binghamton University also plans to compete again in the xFoundry challenge with the support of the Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development and Watson Career Connections.

“Participating in the Horizons Challenge is an incredible and unforgettable experience,” Hong said. “There is no need to feel stressed about being ‘perfect’ — it’s not a competition about scores. What makes this experience unique is the chance to connect with people from diverse perspectives, including astronauts, investors, engineers and academics. The sessions with astronauts and inventors were inspiring and gave me a real-world perspective on space and science for helping people.”