Rebecca Combs, a computation and design major from the Class of 2025 at Duke Kunshan University, won a first-place award at Stanford University’s prestigious TreeHacks hackathon.
The event brought together over 800 students from universities worldwide to develop technology solutions for real-world challenges. Combs and her team developed EcoBite, a mobile app that helps users track and reduce food waste by uploading images of food, which the platform analyzes to estimate waste weight.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food loss and waste account for 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Recognizing the urgency of the issue — and aligning with Stanford’s sustainability challenge — Combs and her teammates developed the app to raise awareness and promote sustainable habits.
Reflecting on her experience, Combs described the event as both intense and memorable.
“TreeHacks was simultaneously unforgettable and a blur — 36 hours is an absolute time crunch when coding a mobile application, on top of trying to consistently make development choices that reinforce EcoBite’s impact,” she said.
“When surrounded by so many other brilliant university students pursuing or interested in computer science, you can truly feel the energy of everyone’s talent and bright ideas, keeping one motivated to get work done — even when running off no sleep.”
Rebecca Combs with her teammates at Stanford during TreeHacks 2025
Combs credited her success to the strong teamwork of her fellow participants — Pierre Harbin, Ali Fayed, and Russ Semsem— as well as support from FlutterFlow representatives such as Patricia Wei, Matthew Early, and Frank van Puffelen, and sustainability guidance from Stanford faculty member Keegan Cooke.
Combs said the achievement was particularly meaningful as she nears graduation.
“As a last-time hackathon participant since I graduate in 12 weeks, this achievement will remain clear in my memory for quite a long time,” she said.
Looking ahead, Combs and her team plan to prioritize user feedback to refine EcoBite’s features and usability.
