Farmingdale State College is making waves on the national stage this weekend as a student-led entrepreneurial team heads to Minneapolis to compete in the prestigious Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge.
The high-stakes, Shark Tank-style business plan competition is the centerpiece of e-Fest, a three-day event hosted annually by the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Thomas.
Farmingdale’s team is one of just 25 undergraduate teams selected from over 200 nationwide submissions. Each team is vying for a piece of the $220,000 prize pool, $50,000 of which will go to the top team.
The team’s business venture, called ELTUH, is a cutting-edge system that uses AI-powered drones and wireless charging towers to continuously monitor power lines for signs of damage, heat anomalies and potential wildfire threats.
The idea was sparked by Marine Corps veteran and current Farmingdale student Gustavo Velasquezfernandez, who has spent the past three years developing the project from the ground up.
“There are a lot of wildfires in the world. A lot of them have started because of faulty power lines,” Velasquezfernandez explained. “What our system does is set up towers every ten miles and each tower contains 8 to 16 drones. They fly autonomously in a continuous relay, charging wirelessly at each station, monitoring for sparks or heat. As soon as something is detected, we send a real-time alert to utility companies and first responders.”

Velasquezfernandez’s journey is one of perseverance and passion. After completing his enlistment with the Marine Corps, he studied accounting before pivoting to mechanical engineering to pursue his dream better.
“I sacrificed three years of my life working on this,” he said. “I missed time with my family and friends, but I had to do it. We need this. And I wouldn’t have been able to keep going without God. That’s how I find the strength to keep pushing.”
Initially, Velasquezfernandez worked on ELTUH alone, teaching himself how to write patents (two of which are now pending) and pitching the idea to investors.
However, he credits the recent growth and refinement of ELTUH to his newly formed team at Farmingdale: fellow students Travell White and Asad Khaz, both electrical engineering majors.
“God blessed me with two amazing members just a couple of months ago,” he said. “They’ve made everything better. I’m used to working with a team in the military and now I have a team again for this mission.”
The Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge offers a rare and transformative platform for undergraduate innovators like Velasquezfernandez.
“This is the ninth year of e-Fest,” said Danielle Campaeu, dean of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship. “It’s one of the largest undergraduate business competitions in the country. We provide $220,000 in non-dilutive funding—meaning we don’t take any equity. The goal is to get early-stage ideas off the ground by giving students the capital they need.”
Throughout the three-day event, students compete in events such as the “Pitch Slam,” an Innovation Challenge, and the main business plan showdown. Each team member also participates in skill-building workshops and networking events with peers, mentors, and industry leaders.
“We kicked it off with a 90-second elevator pitch competition last night,” Campaeu said. “The top team walked away with $10,000. Today, we’ve got the Innovation Challenge, where students are placed into intercollegiate teams and asked to solve a problem in a few hours. Tomorrow is the main event: the Shark Tank-style pitch competition.”
While no participating startups have yet become household names, Campaeu sees limitless potential.
“We’ve seen everything—from med-tech and consumer goods to devices like a drink testing stick to detect drugs in beverages. The ideas are phenomenal and we’re just getting started.”
The Farmingdale team has drawn support not only from each other but also from faculty. Velasquezfernandez credited professor Betty Feng, who teaches business development at Farmingdale State College, with helping him discover and apply for e-Fest.
“If it weren’t for professor Betty, I wouldn’t even know this opportunity existed,” he said. “She connected me with professors, helped me build a team and opened so many doors.”
ELTUH’s applications could extend beyond utility monitoring.
“Yes, it’s designed for power lines, but it can be used by border patrol, the government or in other areas that are hard to monitor consistently,” Velasquezfernandez explained.
As the competition continues, Velasquezfernandez and his team will present their fully developed pitch, supported by research, prototypes and a compelling mission: to save lives and prevent disasters.
“We’ll find out the results on Saturday,” Velasquezfernandez said. “But win or lose, we’re here to make a difference.”
Win or not, Farmingdale State College has already shown that with innovation, passion and teamwork, even the most ambitious ideas can take flight—autonomously, just like ELTUH.