Bronco BEAM
Role: Project manager, lead back-end developer, UX design
Date: Spring 2018 - Present
Bronco BEAM connects students to free leftover food on the Boise State campus using location-based notifications. Since its pilot launch in Fall 2019, it has been downloaded by over 1,000 students and staff at the university with up to 30 people fed per event. The project began when my team was researching how to use Bluetooth beacons to enhance students' experience at the campus tutoring center. When we learned about the staggering food insecurity statistics on campus, we pivoted and teamed up with Food Services to create the current app. The app was developed by a three person team including myself and I was heavily involved in all parts of design/development. I created the Node.js server and database, which I deployed on AWS. I also programmed native location functionality for both Android and iOS, implemented push notifications, programmed a React web portal, worked with Boise State's Office of Information Technology to incorporate the university's OAuth login system, published the app to the app stores for both Android and iOS, and worked with stakeholders from a variety of departments across campus to ensure a successful pilot launch. We also did an assessment of other possible uses for beacon technology on campus, one of which spun off into a related research project called Theia.
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