By: Caitlin Kennedy Downey
This year’s Hack the Herd: AI & Sustainability Hackathon brought together an impressive group of about 20 student innovators from Amherst College, Smith College, and UMass Amherst for an intensive, collaborative, and high-energy weekend of problem-solving and creation.
Over the course of 24 hours, students worked in teams of up to four to tackle a central challenge: develop an innovative solution that contributes to the College’s sustainability pathway, using AI during the design and/or implementation process. With guidance from experienced coaches, they transformed ambitious concepts into scalable prototypes, many inspired directly by campus sustainability needs.
Coaching & Collaboration
Teams had access to expert mentors throughout the hackathon, including:
- Weston Dripps, Director of Sustainability
- Liam Davis and Ryan Ji, Executive Directors of Engineering at i2i
Coaches helped students identify real sustainability gaps on campus and refine their concepts into actionable projects. The result: creative, technically informed hacks grounded in real-world needs.
Pitches & Expo-Style Judging
Each team delivered a three-minute pitch to a panel of judges and an audience of peers, explaining their vision, implementation strategy, and use of AI. This was followed by expo-style judging, during which teams showcased demos, answered questions, and received direct feedback.
Projects were submitted in one of four tracks:
1. Food Waste
2. Waste Management
3. Transportation Sustainability
4. Climate Resilience
A grand prize winner was selected from across all categories.
Submitted Hacks
The creativity and effort on display were remarkable. This year’s submissions included:
1. Mammoth ReServe — (Food Waste)
Transforms campus leftovers into community meals. Dining halls and student groups log surplus food; students and local food banks receive instant alerts. Scalable to any U.S. campus.
2. Wheely Mammoth — (Transportation Sustainability)
Pairs students heading the same direction to reduce emissions, cut costs, and make campus mobility more efficient through a student-friendly rideshare system.
3. Nile — (Waste Management / Textbooks)
Fights textbook waste by scanning and re-circulating donated books. Faculty can request needed materials, which are fulfilled using existing campus inventory.
4. DormDealz — (Waste Management)
A campus-centered digital thrifting marketplace where students can buy and sell used clothing, reducing waste while earning extra cash.
5. Frutiger Eco — (Food Waste)
A custom-trained neural network that recognizes food items and generates real-time data to support smarter sustainability decisions on campus.
2025 Hackathon Winners
Track 1: Food Waste — Mammoth ReServe
Track 2: Waste Management — DormDealz
Track 3: Transportation Sustainability — Wheely Mammoth
Track 4: Climate Resilience — No winner this year
Grand Prize Winner — Mammoth ReServe
Congratulations to all student hackers for their hard work, creativity, and dedication with special applause for our track and grand prize winners!
Our Judges
We are deeply grateful to our panel of judges for lending their expertise:
- Lee Spector, Class of 1993 Professor of Computer Science and Chair of Computer Science, Amherst College
- Audrey Woods, Green Dean in the Office of Sustainability; Amherst College alum
- Yichen Liu, Senior Software Engineer at Ideas 2 Innovation, AI in the Liberal Arts Student Assistant, and Spring 2025 Hack the Herd Winner
- Marc Littman, CFO of Elateq, a water-treatment and electrochemical technology company
We extend our sincere thanks to Auroop Ratan Ganguly, Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University and Director of the Sustainability & Data Sciences Lab, for delivering this year’s keynote address. His presentation, “Climate and Sustainability Entrepreneurship with Physics-AI Systems,” offered a fascinating look into how his climate-tech startup, risQ, uses advanced modeling and AI to predict climate risks for bond investors. His insights set an inspiring tone for the hackathon.
Thank You
Thank you to every participant, coach, judge, and supporter who made the Fall 2025 Hack the Herd: AI & Sustainability Hackathon a success. Your energy, creativity, and commitment to building a more sustainable future are what make this event so impactful.
This hackathon was proudly hosted by:
AI in the Liberal Arts at Amherst College,
The Office of Sustainability, and
i2i Venture Accelerator.
We can’t wait to see what you build next.
