Feb 2026

EcoRoute

A sensor-driven dashboard mapping 84 waste bins across BU's campus to optimize collection routes and bin placement.

Next.js
NextAuth.js
SQLite
Data Visualization
Vercel

Overview

Built with BU's Team Sustainability to replace guesswork in campus waste collection. Sensor readings from 84 Big Belly bins are combined with City of Boston open data to map every bin, identify hotspots that overflow, and recommend better placement based on foot traffic. A hotspot algorithm drives the collection-timing recommendations, and NextAuth.js gates the dashboard so only BU Sustainability staff can see operational data.

My role

Team lead — organized a team of five, delegating dashboard development to two software engineers and the data pipeline to three data scientists, and coordinating the handoffs between them

Outcomes

First place in the Environmental track and second overall at the 2026 BU Civics Hackathon
Delivered a working product on deadline with a team of five across two disciplines
Cleaned raw CSV feeds from the City of Boston open data portal and BU's bin sensor network into a queryable SQLite database

Challenges

Deploying the live feature went wrong on the day and was not resolved until minutes before the final presentation — the demo went out on a build that had only just started working.