Video by Andrew Bilindabagabo

Two Franklin & Marshall students turned a passion for mathematics into meaningful solutions for the Power Packs Project, a nonprofit combating food insecurity in Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.  

Nancy Nguyen ’26 and Sergio Marin ’26 worked with Christina Weaver, F&M’s Carmie L. and Beatrice J. Creitz Professor of Mathematics and department chair, over eight weeks this summer to optimize a recipe schedule for the organization.

“The most rewarding part was seeing how our work could make a real impact on a community organization, helping Power Packs make data-informed decisions to stretch their budget while maintaining healthy meals,” Marin said. 

The Power Packs Project distributes weekly food boxes and recipe cards to families with school-aged children, pairing low-cost ingredients with simple and nutritious recipes to improve food security and encourage families to cook and eat together. 

In the 2024-25 academic year, Power Packs distributed more than 14,000 meals per week.

“The most rewarding part was seeing how our work could make a real impact on a community organization."

Sergio Marin '26

Marin and Nguyen built digital tools to better understand the cost of the meals provided, from organizing hundreds of recipes and analyzing ingredient price trends, to designing and launching a website for better accessibility and future planning. 

“The most challenging part was writing code to integrate nutrition data with the Power Packs recipes,” Nguyen said. 

With nearly 160 recipes, the students ensured that all ingredient matches were accurate for the optimization code to function properly and provide accurate results to users. 

“This experience showed me how classroom knowledge can be used to solve real-world problems,” Nguyen said. “I applied many of the technical and analytical skills I learned in class, such as coding, data analysis and problem-solving.”

Marin, of Alicante, Spain, is pursuing a double major in mathematics and data science. Nguyen, of Ba Ria, Vietnam, is a double major in data science and economics with a minor in applied mathematics. 

Both students will travel to Atlanta to present a research paper at the Oct. 25 INFORMS Workshop on Data Science, a premier research conference dedicated to developing novel data science theories, algorithms and methods to solve challenging problems in business and society.

“It was exciting to see data science applied so meaningfully to food access,” said Annette Rosa-Pabon, director of operations at Power Packs. 

“Their approach was thoughtful, collaborative and incredibly practical. We've been using the recipe website during our food huddle meeting, and it's truly lessened the stress of having to create new recipes from scratch. It's such a valuable tool for the team,” she added.

Weaver is a longtime volunteer with Power Packs. Over the past two years, she has included five students in the Power Packs optimization project as summer Hackman Scholars.  

“I realized we might be able to use math to do things more efficiently,” Weaver said.

The project has helped both Marin and Nguyen envision a post-graduate path in data science. 

“I hope to work in data science or consulting, ideally in roles that combine analytics with real-world problem solving — helping organizations make better decisions through data,” Marin said. 

Nguyen plans to either pursue a doctorate in data science or work in data analytics, “where I can apply my skills to solve meaningful problems.”

“We're grateful for their contributions and are proud to be part of a project that bridges academics and community service so beautifully,” Rosa-Pabon said. 

"The work by Professor Weaver, Sergio and Nancy provides data that will impact our work tremendously. As Power Packs continuously strives to provide the healthiest food possible to the families who come to us for food assistance, this research gives us a unique opportunity to understand the recipes we should be giving to families more frequently to increase their nutrition, which is our ultimate goal. Knowing the cost-to-nutrition ratio is an amazing tool for Power Packs to make strategic decisions on what is included in our weekly distributions."

Brad Peterson, executive director at Power Packs Project