The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

    Facebook page lays out when, where free food will be on campus daily

    In the midst of a tech talk held at the Siebel Center Thursday, an attendant raised his hand. When he was called on, he didn’t question the speaker about software analytics; instead, he asked the question Mohammad Rad has been researching for over a month — where’s the food?

    Rad, a graduate student, created a Facebook page July 28, where he posts events laying out where free food can be found around campus. At press time, the Facebook page had 345 likes.

    Rad said the page is a prototype for the mobile application he hopes to create, which will show students exactly where the closest free food is on campus and what time the event takes place.

    “I wanted to start the Facebook page to gain market research to see whether or not people would think this idea was as interesting as I think it is,” he said.

    Rad said he got the idea for this mobile app when he read a survey that caught his attention. The survey said at any given university in the United States, at any given time, there are at least two places on campus serving free food.

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    Recently, Rad went to Quad Day and signed up for as many clubs as possible. When he receives emails from these clubs advertising for their events, he posts the events that offer free food on his page. He also uses the University calendar and other campus resources to find extra events around campus.

    Several University students have posted on the page encouraging others to come to their events. Jed Taylor, the assistant director of the Technology Entrepreneurship Center, has encouraged Rad to continue with the page, as he feels it will attract more students to TEC events such as the tech talk at Siebel Center.

    “Students will attend talks that they would never attend otherwise, which may give them ideas for their own areas of study,” Rad said.

    Rad said he is excited to develop the mobile app in hopes of gaining a larger profit. He said he is now looking to team up with a computer science major to help him create the application.

    Sophia can be reached at [email protected].

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