Rebecca Combs, a student majoring in computation and design from the Duke Kunshan University Class of 2025, clinched the top award at the esteemed TreeHacks hackathon held by Stanford University.
TreeHacks 2025 prize announcement: EcoBite wins first place in the Best Use of FlutterFlow category
The competition convened over a thousand students from around the globe who came together to create technological solutions to pressing issues. Combs, along with her team, conceived EcoBite, an innovative app that tackles food waste by allowing users to upload images of their meals, which the app then evaluates to predict the amount of waste.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has noted that nearly 8 percent of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions are due to food waste and loss. In response to this critical environmental problem and to contribute to Stanford’s focus on sustainability, Combs’ group introduced the app as a tool for increasing consciousness about waste and encouraging eco-friendly practices.
Rebecca Combs (first from right) with her teammates during the judging phase at TreeHacks 2025.
Combs looked back on the hackathon as an experience that was both exhilarating and a whirlwind.
“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 recounted.
“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
She attributed her triumph not just to her individual efforts but to the cohesive collaboration within her team comprising Pierre Harbin, Ali Fayed, and Russ Semsem, and to the backing they received from FlutterFlow’s Patricia Wei, Matthew Early, and Frank van Puffelen, complemented by the sustainability insights from Stanford’s Keegan Cooke.
As she approaches the culmination of her studies, the significance of this achievement resonates even more with Combs.
“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,” remarked Combs.
Looking forward, her team is intent on integrating user feedback to further enhance the functionality and user experience of EcoBite.
