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Student Pitch Competitions
The STEM Pitch Competition - Fall 2025
The STEM Pitch Competition took place on Friday, November 14th, at the Carlsen Center. Students from the College of Engineering and Computer Science AND the College of Natural Science and Mathematics competed with their innovative, problem-solving startup ventures. We commend all the student participants! And here are the winning student ventures:
1st Place: Helping Hand
Helping Hand is addressing language deprivation and the lack of accessible, interactive ASL learning for K–12 children. Their solution is a robotic arm that teaches ASL language through real-time demonstration and AI vision feedback.
- Kevan Shafizadeh
- Salma Waleed Aboukhadra
- Vaibhavi Naik
- Edgar Sandoval
- Olei Amelie Ngan
- Cameron R. Law
2nd Place: GuLP
The team is developing an AI-powered AAC device to help Gestalt language processors communicate and learn how to structure sentences.
- Kevan Shafizadeh
- Ben Duong
- Uhmang Vadhar
- Cameron R. Law
3rd Place: FitBud
FitBud is solving the problem of poor workout form and limited progress tracking for everyone from beginners to competitive athletes and trainers.
- Kevan Shafizadeh
- Nerwin James Jimenez
- Omar Sadat
- Collins Nyamu
- Derrick Lyerly
- Ryan Peterson
- Cameron R. Law
Grateful to our judges: Jagannadha S. Chidella, David Freeman, Kevan Shafizadeh, and Tim Swaney.
College of Health & Human Services Pitch Competition – Fall 2025
The Committee of Impactful Innovation & Entrepreneurship invites you to join the premier HHS Pitch Competition this Fall! This is an opportunity for student innovators and entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas, technologies, and/or businesses.
e-FEST Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Competition
e-Fest and the Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge kicks off in February with an online round as a panel of entrepreneurs and business professionals select the top 25 student teams to move forward in the competition. Each online submission receives at least two anonymous judging scores, which are computed to determine the Top 25 Finalist teams.
After this online round, the Top 25 Finalist Teams are invited to compete in person at e-Fest (travel stipends awarded to all finalist teams) at the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship located on the University of St. Thomas campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
We are thrilled to share that two of our innovative student startups, Splash Technologies and SentrySight, made it into the Top 25 in '25 for the e-Fest® - Home of The Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge! This competition had nearly 200 submissions from colleges and universities across North America.
Congrats to SentrySight and Splash Tech!
SentrySight and Splash Tech take on e-Fest!
We are proud to share SentrySight took home 5th Place Overall and $10,000!
SentrySight leverages AI computer vision and machine learning to detect active shooters in public space like school and Universities.
- Ritchie Martinez, CEO
- Huy Dao, CTO
- Gavin Garcia, CMO
- Enrique De La Torre, COO
Additionally, Splash Co-Founder Gabriel Sigala took home the 3rd Place prize in the Innovation Challenge bringing home $1,000!
Splash is automating pool chemical testing making pools easier and more enjoyable to own.
- Gabriel Sigala, Co-Founder
- Jeremy Randall, Co-Founder
University-wide Innovation Competition
The Sacramento State University-Wide Innovation Competition is an opportunity for innovators and entrepreneurs to showcase their ideas, technologies, and/or businesses while receiving mentorship, and the opportunity to win prize money and a seat at a CSU-wide pitch competition.
Innovators and startup founders need to be able to articulate and communicate their value proposition to attract customers and/or investors as they launch and grow their businesses. This opportunity serves as a growth point for these innovators and founders as they will need to hone their messaging and presentation abilities to be able to raise funds and gain visibility from the community.
All majors are welcome!
2024 CSU Startup Launch Competition
Two student teams from Sac State won the University-wide Innovation Competition and earned an opportunity to represent Sac State at the CSU Startup Launch Competition held at CSU Dominguez Hills on May 3rd. Rather than a pitch competition, they competed in a showcase with different categories.
Sac State Student Winners of 2024 CSU Startup Launch
Student Idea Competition (Fall Semester)
The Carlsen Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship is excited to partner with the Sacramento State Colleges to provide a creative outlet to pursue your innovative, problem-solving ideas! 
Please reach out to the Carlsen Center email with any questions!
Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM) Idea Competition
Check out the winners of the Fall 2023 Student Idea Competition for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM)!
1st Place: FireGression - Smith Purdum, MS in Chemistry
2nd Place: Healthy Ware - Tarandeep Singh, Chemistry
3rd Place: Indoor Skate Park - Brandon Adonai Gonzalez, Mathematics
College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) Idea Competition
Here are the winners of the Fall 2023 Student Idea Pitch Competition featuring students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS)!
- 1st Place: aligner access - Taylor Mackin, Mechanical Engineering
- 2nd Place: Call Flow – Edgar Sandoval, Computer Engineering
- 3rd Place: A tie between:
Campus Eats – Abubeker Hussen, Mechanical Engineering;
Mohamed Ismail, Computer Science; Isaiah Parker, Business HR
And
Green & Gold Club – Ruqshana Amiri, Mechanical Engineering
A&L, HHS and SSIS Idea Competition
Arts and Letters, Health and Human Services, Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Studies Fall 2023 Student Idea Pitch winners include:
- 1st Place: JBV – Vanessa Vang, Nutrition & Psychology
- 2nd Place: Nutra Compass – Justin Mickle, Nutrition; Luke Bonaparte Kinesiology; Dhruv Singh, Computer Science
- 3rd Place: Go-Getter – Ike Bischof, Communications
Click on images to enlarge:
College of Business Idea Competition
1st Place: Vael
2nd Place: Green Energy
3rd Place: Mobile Munchies Machine
Click on images to enlarge:
