How an Experiential Learning Research Project Led to a Full-Time Job

Lauren Miller. Photograph courtesy Lauren Miller.

After graduating this year from Drexel University with a master’s degree in data science, Lauren Miller is now working as a junior data engineer at Aramark — but it’s not her first experience with the company. She first engaged with the food and facilities services company as a graduate student working on a project between Aramark and the Drexel Food Lab, and she said that opportunity helped her solidify her career path.

“I accepted a position as a junior data engineer within Aramark Sports + Entertainment. This position is directly related to my coursework and internship while at Drexel and my experiences within the Drexel Food Lab as a data analyst,” said Miller, who graduated last term.

Miller is now a two-time Drexel graduate, having first graduating in 2021 with an undergraduate degree in culinary and food science from the College of Nursing and Health Professions. She also worked at the Drexel Food Lab, which is focused on interdisciplinary food product design and culinary innovation research, during all four years of her undergraduate career as a research assistant. 

As an undergraduate, Miller worked within the realm of product development and was involved in a grant project with the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Public Health to make healthier foods available to Philadelphians eating in city agencies, like after-school programs, senior centers and corrections.

After graduating, she worked on food product development in the food science industry for two years.

“While I enjoyed the industry, I found myself particularly drawn to the data-driven aspects of my work — analyzing trends and using data to inform decision-making. This led me to change career paths and return to Drexel to pursue a master’s degree in data science,” said Miller.

Last year, as a graduate student, Miller worked as a data engineering intern during a graduate co-op at Avanade, a global IT company offering a variety of services centered on the Microsoft platform. This experience also helped prepare her for a full-time job after graduation, she said.

As a graduate student, Miller rejoined the Drexel Food Lab as a research assistant — working in the lab for her experience as well. Similar to her undergraduate experience there, she continued to work under the mentorship of Jonathan Deutsch, PhD, professor in the Food and Hospitality Management program in the College of Nursing and Health Professions and founding director of the Drexel Food Lab.

In her time there as a graduate student, Miller worked on a variety of projects with local companies and led the data analysis of a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) focused on reducing household food waste.

“The Drexel Food Lab is interdisciplinary, but food focused. Lauren’s balance of deep knowledge of culinary arts and food science, coupled with her current studies in data science, made her a key team member. We did a lot in the last two years that we definitely could not have done without her,” said Deutsch.

As a graduate student, Miller was the lead student researcher on a collaboration with Aramark, which has been Drexel's on-campus dining and catering partner since 2016. Previously, the Food Lab and students in a graduate product development class worked on a partnership project with Aramark in 2018 to create vegetarian menu options; ultimately, three vegetarian sandwiches were tested and offered in Drexel dining venues.

The team of Drexel and Aramark researchers investigated menu interventions aimed at reducing carbon emissions in Drexel’s residential dining halls, as related to topics outlined in World Resources Institute’s “Food Service Playbook for Promoting Sustainable Food Choices.” The team studied the effectiveness of displaying targeted marketing materials during Earth Week, promoting a non-beef special at the Urban Eatery’s grill station and moving a station offering beef entrées to a low-traffic area in the Handschumacher Dining Center. All those changes resulted in a significant reduction in carbon emissions for the specific meal and/or area of the dining operations — a good solution considering Aramark developed the project as part of its mission to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. 

“I was working on exploratory interventions aimed to test carbon emission reductions and potential change in satisfaction of consumers,” said Miller.

The findings were written about in articles published by Aramark and Drexel, and the research team also presented some of these findings at the Plant Based World Expo in New York City last September. The group is currently working on a paper to publish the results, Miller said.

“My involvement with Aramark through the Drexel Food Lab gave me experience analyzing food service data. Collaborating with Aramark professionals showed me how my skills and experiences align with the company’s mission. When I saw the junior data engineer role with Aramark Sports + Entertainment, I knew it was the perfect opportunity,” she said. 

Miller is one of several Drexel Food Lab alumni to work at Aramark both during and after graduating from the University. Karen Gubbi, a MS in food science student graduate student from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, is currently working with Aramark’s campus dining team.

Miller is also one of five graduate students who previously worked in the Drexel Food Lab as undergraduate students and returned after continuing their studies at Drexel, according to Deutsch, the Drexel Food Lab director and Drexel professor.

Those students are:

• Heather Krick, DHSc, undergraduate in nutrition sciences and doctorate in health sciences; both degrees are from the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
• DeAndra Forde, undergraduate in nutrition sciences and current PhD student in nutrition sciences, both in the College of Nursing and Health Professions.
• Anne Fraser-Jones, undergraduate in culinary arts and science in the College of Nursing and Health Professions and MBA graduate from the Bennett S. LeBow College of Business.
• Gabe Thayer, undergraduate in culinary arts and science and graduate with a master’s degree in design research from the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.

“I consider this the highest praise we could get — an undergraduate experience so meaningful that students come back for grad school and more work in the lab. In a way, I did that as well — I'm now teaching in the department I graduated from,” said Deutsch (who, yes, is also a Drexel alumnus).